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ESSENTIALS OF EVANGELISM 
OSCAR L. JOSEPH 



ESSENTIALS OF 
EVANGELISM 

BY 

OSCAR L. JOSEPH 

AUTHOR OF ''THE FAITH AND THE FELLOWSHIP," 

♦• PERSONAL APPEALS TO SUNDAY 

SCHOOL WORKERS,'* ETC. 




" Speak hut the word! the Evangel shall awaken 
Life in the lost, the hero in the slate.'^ 



NEW YORK 
GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY 






COPYRIGHT, 1918, 
BY GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY 



MAY -4 I9i3 



I",:? 



PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OP AMERICA 



©GI,A497161 



TO MY FRIEND 

S. PARKES CADMAN, D.D. 

A GREAT PROPHET OF GRACE AND TRUTH 

WHO COMBINES 

THE PASSION OF THE EVANGEL 

WITH SPIRITUAL INSIGHT 

AND BROAD CULTURE 



PREFACE 

WE are on the threshold of most radical 
changes touching every phase of thought 
and life. New and better ideals are 
about to appear out of the clash of competing 
nations and armies. We shall soon find ourselves 
in a new world, when the acid test of real fitness 
will be searchingly applied to every institution. 
The severe sifting will leave only the gold of 
genuine worth. It will glisten with greater re- 
splendence and be diligently sought after by 
earnest souls, who have survived the terrible 
ordeal of suffering and loss. The church will not 
escape this fiery trial. But I am confident that 
the church of Jesus Christ is competent to meet 
the urgent demands of the new day. Some of the 
ways in which this should be done is indicated in 
this book. It is a discussion of the dynamics of 
evangelism, whose purpose is to reconstruct so- 
ciety by changing the individual, so that his look 
inward in penitence, will enable him to look up- 
ward to God in confidence, and then look outward 
to men with enthusiasm, for the service of the 
kingdom of God, in the interest of worldwide 
democracy and fraternity. 

0. L. J. 





CONTENTS 




CHAPTER 

I. 


The Evangel .... 


. 13 


II. 


The Heealds .... 


. 24 


III. 


The Supbeme Unction 


35 


IV. 


The Central Practice 


. 46 


V. 


The Holy Passion 


. 57 


VI. 


Religious Conversation . 


67 


VII. 


The Personal Touch 


79 


VIII. 


"All at It and Always at It" 


90 


IX. 


The Needed Revival . . . . 


103 


X. 


The Indispensable Book . 


117 


XI. 


The Evangelistic Teacher 


131 


XII. 


The Persuasive Preacher 


142 


XIII. 


Thinking Through . . . . 


154 



ESSENTIALS OF EVANGELISM 



ESSENTIALS OF EVANGELISM 

CHAPTER ONE 

THE EVANGEL 

THE emphasis on spiritual things is one of 
the striking by-products of the war. But 
it is a significant fact that much of this 
emphasis is seen outside organised Christianity. 
At the outbreak; of the war many turned to the 
churches for relief but were disappointed, and so 
their restless spirits went elsewhere for consola- 
tion. The popularity of spiritualism, crystal- 
gazing and other cults is a decided sign of the 
times. So far as these persons are concerned, the 
church failed to give a searching and satisfying 
message. It was moreover regarded by many as 
having gone into spiritual bankruptcy. This is 
all the more deplorable because the church was 
organised for the precise purpose of bringing men 
into fellowship with the living God and of enabling 
them to realise the brotherhood of all believers 
through Jesus Christ. We have turned away 
from the essential truth and have busied ourselves 
with side-issues. We have struggled to maintain 
the organisation by a series of checkmating in a 

13 



14 Essentials of Evangelism 

spirit of competition and suspicion, in sheer neg- 
lect of the primary aim of the church's mission. 
Bishop Brent, in a memorable sermon at St. 
Paul's, London, declared: ^^A large part of the 
public has already issued notice on the churches 
that unless we observe the elementary principles 
of peaceableness and fairness and fellowship, they 
will get on without us." The loss that will follow 
from such a separation must needs be irreparable. 
The time has surely come for the church to take 
an inventory and learn what is absolutely essen- 
tial for its effective task in the all-round redemp- 
tion of the individual, of society and of humanity. 
This investigation will surely bring enrichment. 
What is the conspicuous message of the church? 
It is the same with which it began its militant 
career. It is the gospel of Jesus Christ the Son 
of God. This is not a declaration of propositions 
but the proclamation of a living person of excep- 
tional power and incomparable grace. He is the 
ideal man — Jesus, who shows us the way of life 
and truth. He is the chosen man — the anointed 
Christ, who is ever present with us as we scale 
the sunlit summits to God, to enter the divine 
presence in the enjoyment of forgiveness. He is 
the filial man — Son of God in a unique sense, who 
offers us also the privilege of communion with 
God in the experience of sonship. He is, finally 
the fraternal man, who bears the suffering human 
race upon his heart and summons everyone with 



The Evangel 15 



the winsome invitation: *^Come unto me, all ye 
that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give 
you rest.^' The burden of the apostolic evangel 
was Jesus Christ '^Strong Son of God, immortal 
love,'^ who alone is capable of interpreting and 
supplying our divers needs. Eecall some of the 
sentences which utter the central and recurring 
theme of apostle and disciple. ^^In none other 
is there salvation.'' ^^ Through his name every 
one that believeth on him shall receive remission 
of sins." ^^ Believe on the Lord Jesus, and thou 
shalt be saved.'' ^^ Other foundation can no man 
lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ." 
' ' There is therefore now no condemnation to them 
that are in Christ Jesus." ^^ Faithful is the say- 
ing, and worthy of all acceptation, that Jesus 
Christ came into the world to save sinners." ^^Ye 
were redeemed with precious blood, even the blood 
of Christ." ^^He was manifested to take away 
sins; and in him is no sin." Turn wherever you 
will in the New Testament and you meet with one 
continuous and convincing testimony that to Jesus 
Christ was given all the affection and devotion of 
the whole church. His prophetic declaration: ^^I, 
if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto myself," 
was heartily accepted without the slightest hint of 
dissension. Those who were drawn to him set 
their seal that he is the unique Saviour, while 
others who rejected him thereby showed their dis- 
approval of his character of holiness, his cross 



1 6 Essentials of Evangelism 

of sacrifice, his gospel of redemption and his claim 
of authority. In doing so, they only exposed their 
own inability to fathom the gracious counsels and 
purposes of God, who ^^so loved the world, that 
he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever 
believeth on him should not perish, but have 
eternal life/^ Well might Bishop Henson say: 
^^Eemove Christ from the central place and the 
temple of religion is not only empty but ruined.'' 
Jesus Christ is the only adequate evangel for our 
present day of depressing confusion, of subtle sin- 
fulness, of heartbreaking anguish, of irreparable 
loss. 

It is true that he laid the emphasis on the king- 
dom of God. But we. cannot infer, as some do, 
that the apostles were mistaken when they sub- 
stituted the King for the Kingdom. Jesus re- 
peatedly drew the attention of his hearers to him- 
self and compelled them to reckon with him. 
^^ Follow me''; '^Come unto me"; '^He that is 
not with me is against me"; ^^ Whosoever loveth 
father or mother more than me is not worthy of 
me"; are clear and forceful utterances which per- 
mit of only one meaning. After his disciples had 
sojourned with him for a season, he questioned 
them searchingly: ^^Whom say ye that I am?" 
If they failed to understand him and to give him 
the first place, there was little hope of their being 
able to press his claims on others and to secure 
their implicit submission to him. The synoptic 



The Evangel 17 



gospels agree with the gospel of John in this 
respect. Indeed, the four taken together consti- 
tute a composite portrait of Jesus, clear in its 
features and compelling in its appeal. The dis- 
tinctive qualities of the gospels enrich the signifi- 
cance of their unity. Mark writes of the strength 
of the Servant of God; Matthew, of the sacrifice 
of the Anointed of God ; Luke, of the sympathy of 
the Man of God ; John, of the sublime spirituality 
of the Son of God. And yet these traits are not 
exclusive in each of the memoirs but appear in all 
four. The several epistles, moreover, interpret 
and apply the truth, of the gospel records. When 
therefore we hear the cry, ^^Back to Christ," we 
accept it on condition that it 'is back to the Christ 
of the entire New Testament, whose testimony 
is consistent, without any disparity or evasion. 
When we think of him as the living Christ, the 
more appropriate summons should be '^Forward 
to Christ," who stands at the parting of the ways 
and calls us to follow him and turn away from 
the slippery paths which slope down to hell. Hear 
him and find peace. 

The three great words of the gospel are life, 
light and love. They strikingly set forth the dis- 
tinctive character of God. He i^ life, even the 
source and fountain of it, in whom we live and 
move and have our being. He is light, who re- 
veals himself in gracious self-communication, with 
whom we realise the blessedness of fellowship. 



1 8 Essentials of Evangelism 

He is love whereby he exhibits his supreme pas- 
sion in equity and benignity for the benefit of 
whosoever will. These sublime ideas found ex- 
pression in the person of Jesus Christ, who re- 
flected God's bright glory and was stamped with 
God's own character. ^^In Jesus the chasm be- 
tween God and man has closed up ; in our search 
for God we have at last arrived; there is no be- 
yond to torment our tired and aching souls; no 
sense of a distance yet to be traversed, of a 
separating river yet to be crossed." So writes 
Principal E. Griffith- Jones in his refreshing book 
on ^^ Faith and Immortality." For years Chris- 
tian people have lived without any vital relation- 
ship to the future life, and many even declared 
that both God and immortality were of small 
significance. The war has shown the folly of 
such an attitude. Eager souls are craving for 
assurance concerning the destiny of their loved 
ones who have fallen in ^^No Man's Land," and 
at other places on the war front. How timely is 
the message of him who is the resurrection and 
the life. He tells us that since God is our Father 
and we have the experience of his presence now 
with us, the incident of death cannot violate nor 
destroy our relationship. Indeed, our assurance 
of immortality is based on the personality of 
Christ, who is supreme in the moral and spiritual 
world. His companionship with us shall never be 
broken by the event of death. 



The Evangel 19 



" God is ! Christ loves ! Christ lives ! 
And by his own returning gives 
Sure pledge of immortality. 
The first-fruits — He; and we — 
The harvest of his victory. 
The life beyond shall this life far transcend, 
And death is the beginning — ^not the end." 

The idea of God as love, so richly illuminated 
in the life of Jesus, makes for the large enrich- 
ment of human life. The trappings of time, the 
adornments of princes, the honours of govern- 
ments — what are they of themselves but so many 
empty favours ! They sit well only on those who 
have the character of Christlikeness, which is the 
first and final test of genuine worth. Jesus scan- 
dalised the aristocracy of his day because he 
discarded the cast-iron distinctions of society. 
He cared neither for the glamour of riches nor 
for the gloom of poverty. The outcast and the 
fallen both found in him a friend. His sjnupathy 
was so unusually generous, in word and deed, that 
various classes and nationalities were won. The 
Roman centurion, the Samaritans of Sychar and 
the Syrophenician ; the publican, the Magdalene 
and the outcast of every type found a welcome in 
his healing company. In every age, the labouring 
man and the professional man, the Oriental and 
the Occidental, the pious and the impious, have 
been ennobled by him, who has more than fulfilled 
their most ardent expectations. Under the in- 
fluence of Jesus, the early church received this 



20 Essentials of Evangelism 

true view of the linman race. Room was made 
for the slave by the side of his master. Both 
enjoyed equal privileges. It meant a great deal 
when Paul the aristocrat and Onesimus the run- 
away slave fraternised with each other. It was 
this apostle who declared in explicit terms that 
where Christ is supremely recognised, ^^ there can- 
not be Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircum- 
cision, barbarian, Scythian, bondman, freeman; 
but Christ is all and in all.'' 

The evangel teaches the love of man as man, 
regardless of class, caste or country. In the days 
of the church's romance when it honestly accepted, 
in scorn of consequence, the principle of a common 
fraternity, there was power in its midst. It 
wielded an influence even to the undermining of 
empires and the enthroning of righteousness and 
truth. Of course, its members were exposed to the 
contempt of the literati and the hostility of the 
elite of every nation who regarded them as ^^ crazy 
and credulous fanatics and as an abomination to 
society." But none of these things moved them, 
for they had the witness within. The passport 
into recognition and honour was the Christlike 
character and not the affluent circumstances. "We 
are being told that the spirit of democracy should 
universally prevail. It is only as the rights of 
individuals are mutually respected that we can 
overcome race and class hatreds with their violent 
reprisals. ^^Our gospel is not the survival of the 



The Evangel 21 



fit but the revival of the unfit/' The missionary 
is demonstrating this on the foreign field, where 
distance lends enchantment to the truth. We are 
doubtless glad to read about the awakening of 
China and the conversion to Christ of its peoples ; 
but how much do we care about speaking a word 
for Christ to the Chinese laundryman in our 
own town? If he were really to attend our 
church services, some pious folk would surely be 
scandalised. 

The ideas of immortality, equality and fra- 
ternity are found in the evangel of Christ. They 
can be actualised in daily living only as Christ 
takes control of the mind, the conscience, the heart 
and the will of those who call themselves Chris- 
tians. Such a course will doubtless have uncom- 
fortable consequences; but there is no other 
alternative if the church is to secure a hold on 
human life in the service of individual and social 
redemption. We think of Jesus as the sin- 
revealing, sin-expiating, sin-destroying Christ. 
This evangel is in the custody of the church, 
although the church has not taken possession of 
it, to the extent of letting it have the right of 
way and compelling other issues to step aside. 

(a) Sin is the one sinister fact of human life. 
It has had divers forms but the results have ever 
been tragic. The foul pollutions of the first Chris- 
tian century can be duplicated by the no less fatal 
corruptions of the twentieth century. What the 



22 Essentials of Evangelism 

Bible says of sin and its serpentine subtlety is 
endorsed by the conscience of humanity. It is so 
humiliating a menace because it not only alienates 
man from God but also introduces the demoniac 
elements of suspicion and hostility among men 
and interferes with progress in the arts and crafts 
of life. The penalties of sin are both sharp and 
devouring. Jesus has shown, as no other, that sin 
is an inexcusable act making the sinner blame- 
worthy and guilty. No one can plead that it was 
inevitable and so find relief for his troubled 
conscience. In the presence of the sin-revealing 
One, there is a sifting process. The best and 
noblest of men acknowledge their failure. Some 
of their confessions are of classic value. However 
much we may disagree with their psychology, the 
mirror is held up to our lives by such searching 
utterances as the Psalms, the Confessions of 
Augustine, The Imitation of Christ, Grace 
Abounding to the Chief of Sinners, the Apologia 
of Newman, My Confession by Tolstoy. 

(b) It is this fact of a stainless life that has 
enabled Jesus to become the sin-expiating One. 
We need not stop to discuss anj^ theory of the 
atonement. It is enough to know that the sacri- 
fice of the Just for the unjust has verily brought 
many to God, who never could otherwise have 
been reconciled. You cannot understand the 
grace of the evangel and the unfailing love of 
God, until you face Calvary and bow in penitence 



The Evangel 23 



before Christus Reconciliator, who for us men and 
for our salvation trod the wine-press alone. 

(c) Far more important than any theory is 
the exultant testimony of a multitude whom no 
man can number, who have the glowing experience 
of being delivered from evil and becoming free 
from the trammels of sinful appetites and pas- 
sions. 

Our evangel then is the good tidings of Jesus 
Christ, who generously and opulently redeems 
men from the fatal dominance of sin, and delivers 
them from the depths of despair, and saves 
them from the peril of passion, and guides them 
with ever deepening consecration towards the 
splendor of light, the fulness of life and the per- 
fection of love in God. 

" Not what, but Whom I do believe, 

That in my darkest hour of need, 

Hath comfort that no mortal creed 

To mortal man may give; — 
Not what, but Whom! 

For Christ is more than all the creeds, 

And his full life of gentle deeds 

Shall all the creeds outlive. 
Not what I do believe but Whom! 

Who walks beside me in the gloom? 

Who shares the burden wearisome? 

Who all the dim way doth illume, 

And bids me look beyond the tomb 

The larger life to live? — 
Not what I do believe, 
But Whom!"* 

*Bees in Amber, by John Oxenham. American Tract Society, 
New York, N. Y. 



CHAPTEE TWO 



THE HEEALDS 



WE are witnessing to-day a repetition of 
the state of society in the first century. 
The world in which the first apostles of 
Jesus began their work was one of moral chaos, 
spiritual destitution and social upheaval. Pagan 
religions had failed to exert any potent influence 
on morals. In spite of the systems of faith which 
were exalted and held in high repute, the spirit 
of man felt crushed and distracted. The ex- 
tremes of society — the rich and the poor — ^were 
living without the motives of purity and nobility. 
The great middle class was in a healthier state 
but there was nothing to brag about. The note 
of discord and unrest was seen on every hand. 

" The world was sinking in a slough 
Of sloth and ease and selfish greed." 

In many respects we are better favoured than 
the early Christians. We have the testimony 
of the centuries during which Christ has made 
his appeal and turned multitudes to him. This 
fact of history must be reckoned with. Just as 
the scientist and philosopher take note of previous 
investigations in their departments, so the in- 

24 



The Heralds 25 



fluence of Christ during the past must be regarded 
as an invaluable factor in the solution of our 
problem how to win the world for him. The 
closing verse in the gospel of Mark reads: 
^^They went forth and preached everywhere, the 
Lord working with them and confirming the word 
by the signs that followed." The book of Acts 
richly illustrates the ways in which this was done. 
The narrative shares the glow of the movement. 
It w^as a company of devoted men and women who 
undertook the business of magnifying the name of 
Jesus Christ. Opposition and persecution only 
stimulated their activities. After the martyrdom 
of Stephen^ the opponents of the gospel increased 
their fiery hostility and undertook a systematic 
campaign of assault so that many were compelled 
to leave Jerusalem. ^^They therefore that were 
scattered abroad went about preaching the word.'' 
The reference) is to the rank and file of the dis- 
ciples who realised their obligation as mission- 
aries. One conspicuous result was the capture of 
Antioch for Christ. This city at once became the 
centre of a notable evangelistic and missionary 
campaign. These earnest Christians threw them- 
selves heart and soul into the movement. The 
loyalty of love for Jesus so fired their lives that 
their faith, was spread in the very act of living. 
They themselves were the most vital part of their 
testimony. In the words of Bishop Westcott, 
they were '^a living Gospel, a message of God's 



26 Essentials of Evangelism 

good-will to those with whom they lived and suf- 
fered.'' They took with them an experience and 
not a theory ; they proclaimed a person and not a 
doctrine. It was therefore impossible to suppress 
them. Peter voiced their sentiments when he said 
to the Jewish Council: ^^We cannot but speak the 
things which we have seen and heard." Silence 
was out of the question and their influence pene- 
trated near and far, enabling them to score unpre- 
cedented triumphs in the name of the Lord Jesus. 
The evangel of redemption was worthily pro- 
claimed. Their preaching of purity was consist- 
ently supported by their practise of it. The water 
of life did not flow through rusty pipes; it was 
therefore sweet and refreshing. The Sanhedrin, 
before whom Peter and John appeared to answer 
charges, were impressed by the boldness of these 
men. Their behaviour recalled that of their 
Master, whose calmness and courage some of them 
had witnessed. ^^And they took knowledge of 
them that they had been with Jesus.'' Herein is 
the splendour and power of the Christian life, that 
it is patterned after Jesus, whose possessing spirit 
reproduces in his followers the unique traits of 
character which were so distinctive of our Saviour 
and Lord. What he was in such sublime grace, 
they also can become by faith in him. ^^ Jesus 
Christ shows us in living definition what the 
Christian ought to be." The Apostolic Church 
was fully persuaded of this truth, and had the 



The Heralds 27 



courage to accept it for themselves as well as to 
commend it to others. These living epistles were 
more intelligible and persuasive than the written 
ones. What counted most was not the argument 
of logic but the appeal of life ; not the declaration 
of a creed but the exhibition of a character. Their 
glowing experience of the grace of Jesus gave 
them the consciousness of his forgiveness. The 
conviction of his redeeming love thus induced 
them to make consecration of their lives to him, 
who in his own person had brought to them free- 
dom from moral slavery, redemption from spirit- 
ual bondage and relief from social pressure. 
Since then Jesus Christ has ever remained the 
central fact in the life of the world, regarded with 
eagerness by some, with confusion by others, but 
with satisfaction by all who have accepted him. 

" Sweetest note in seraph's song, 
Sweetest name on mortal tongue, 
Sweetest carol ever sung, 
Jesus! blessed Jesus! 

The Christian experience was something unique 
in the first century. It is even so to-day although 
we are familiar with its features. It has never 
failed to secure a favourable verdict for the 
Christ, who has received the allegiance of the 
highest reason and the most enlightened con- 
science of every age and land. The same is true 
of lesser grades of intelligence. We think of such 
extreme cases as are cited in ^^ Twice Born Men'' 



28 Essentials of Evangelism 

by Begbie and ^^The Everlasting Mercy'' by 
Masefield, and it makes us grateful to know that 
the power of the living Saviour is effective among 
men who have lapsed into the moral depths. 
Those who were not so desperately alienated from 
God have also been reconciled and brought into 
filial relations with the Heavenly Father. It is 
through Jesus Christ that they have all been able 
to find themselves and to realise the best for them 
in the purpose of redemption. ^'The saved soul, 
if saved in Love's name," writes Boyce Gibson, 
^^must itself become a saviour; for the spiritual 
life, as Love conceives it, is by nature self-com- 
municative, invasive, redemptive." It is not 
enough to rejoice in the promise of the gospel, 
which is forgiveness ; we must also rejoice in the 
pressure of the gospel, which is fidelity to Christ 
in making him known. We shall then be able to 
exult in the power of the gospel which has saved 
unto the uttermost and will continue to do so. 

Here then we are confronted by the all-im- 
portant question of personality. What is this 
but character which is the result of a series of 
practices and habits quietly and diligently pur- 
sued in the obscure routine and daily grind of 
life. A full heart will act with spontaneity, cor- 
diality and generosity. Such a beautiful spirit 
which manifests itself in deeds is due to that 
subtle and evasive but very real thing known as 
a redeemed and consecrated personality. The 



The Heralds 29 



spirit of love accepts no limits and its fruitage is 
both versatile and abundant. We think of love as 
the clear illuminator, the strong liberator, the 
complete transformer of life in every condition, 
of weal or of woe. We do not think of it merely 
as an, emotion, although even so it has been the 
bringer of untold blessing to the human race, 
through parenthood, filial devotion, patriotism, 
and the myriad forms in which it has found ex- 
pression. There is no need to apologise for emo- 
tionalism. As Professor Coe has well said in 
^^The Eeligion of a Mature Mind'': ^'We are 
suffering not from excess of emotion in religion, 
but rather from too little emotion, from the nar- 
rowness of our emotional range, and especially 
from neglect of the more robust emotions." He 
further states that: ^' Three great changes are 
coming over the practical life of Jesus' disciples. 
First, the Christian life is being simplified; 
second, its ideals are being socialised; third, its 
motives are being intensified. The substitution 
of a simple for a complex creed appears at first 
sight to imply sacrifice of truth, but in the end 
we discover that what we have lost in the range 
of our pretensions we have gained in the stability 
of our faith. Similarly, the abandonment of a 
scheme of rules in favour of a simple principle or 
motive appears like letting go something of 
virtue, but we find that it is progress from letter 
to spirit, from that which kills to that which makes 



30 Essentials of Evangelism 

.Jive. Simplification of the issues of life, more- 
over, makes it harder for us to dodge them, or to 
thin out our consecration/' This is really a re- 
turn to the New Testament standard of thought 
and life. When we read of the advances of that 
early century, telling of comprehensiveness and 
progress due to the influence of Christ-filled per- 
sonalities, let us not doubt the veracity of the 
record but take it at its face value, as it points out 
to us the better course that we should follow. 

There are several things which stand out in the 
life of the early Christians which may well be 
followed by modern Christians. They were in- 
tensely in earnest and were fully swayed by their 
convictions. A man who is sincere even though 
he may be mistaken, has a better chance of per- 
suading people than the other who is lukewarm, 
although he may be in possession of God's truth. 
Earnestness is single-mindedness of purpose 
which says ^^This one thing I do'' and therefore 
subordinates everything else to it. It is not dif- 
ficult to know where such a person stands. He 
is never on the fence and under no circumstance 
will he compromise if principle is at stake. He 
realises the seriousness of the issues and is ever 
intent on duty in season and out of season. Who 
can turn down such an individual or resist the 
winsomeness of his speech and action? There is 
nothing of the fanatic in such behaviour but a 
sober reasonableness, like that shown by Paul 



The Heralds 31 



when he argued with Felix about righteousness, 
self-mastery and the future judgment, and when 
on a different occasion he appealed to Agrippa, 
wishing from the depths of his being that the king 
himself might also become a Christian. 

Another quality which invariably accompanies 
earnestness is certainty. It was not sinking 
ground on which they stood, for they had the 
assurance of experience that ^^ Other foundation 
can no man lay than that which is laid, which is 
Jesus Christ." There was the note of finality 
permitting of no denial nor dispute that ^^In none 
other is there salvation; for neither is there any 
other name under heaven, that is given among 
men, wherein we must be saved. '^ This consen- 
tient testimony of many witnesses could hardly be 
challenged with any chancei of its being refuted. 
Principal P. T. Forsyth once said that the ancient 
prophet responded to the summons with the quick 
answer *^Here am I!'' But the modern prophet 
speaks out of confusion and despair, and asks: 
^^ Where am I?'' Such an attitude of doubt and 
perplexity can never accomplish much. It was 
Phillips Brooks who counselled, saying: *^Be sure 
of God and yourself and of the love between your 
soul and his, and then shrink from no changeful- 
ness, cling to no present, be ready for new skies, 
new tasks, new truths. ' ' Such confidence did they 
of the first century have. 

There was thus begotten in them the spirit of 



32 Essentials of Evangelism 

joy which was full of gladness and glory. It 
charmed away their despair and weariness; it 
worked like a spell over souls diseased and per- 
plexed by sin; it was a precious cordial when 
borne down by the weight of care and trouble. 
The voice of song from the heart, the witness to 
joy from the depths, the temper of peace in truth, 
will do more to convince the world of the power 
of the evangel, which is truly good new^s, than any 
other seemingly strong arguments. Joy will 
further dispel worry, which "William James 
defined as ^^fearthought as distinct from fore- 
thought.'^ It will also give the restful disposi- 
tion which is so unlike the fret and strain and 
humid distemper of much modern Christianity. 

Joy is of such consequence because it quickens 
enthusiasm. This is the spirit of buoyancy and 
optimism, of indomitable faith and unyielding 
vitality. This it is that inspires and impels us 
and hastens us on to victory. This is the spirit 
which has purified the spirit and enlightened the 
vision of those who made great ventures on God 
and who enlisted on stalwart adventures for God. 
Hence they were aggressive and bold to take 
initiative in making the approach to the needy 
soul. When we think of so many who are un- 
churched and indifferent, and even resentful and 
hostile, it is clear that they can be won, if at all, 
only by those who are endowed with a large 
supply of enthusiasm, that wavers not but which 



The Heralds 33 



increases in endurance through patience. ^^The 
church lives/' says W. Robertson NicoU, ^^only 
by capture, by booty, by winning over from the 
world the citizens that make her numbers.'' 
Donald Hankey in one of his last papers wrote : 
^ ' There is only one way to win men to Christ, and 
that is to show to them something of his love, and 
humility, and quiet strength, and humorous com- 
monsense, his distrust of the efficacy of human 
aids to success, and his quiet confidence in the 
power of love and truth." Saul Kane in '^The 
Everlasting Mercy" recognised his obligation in 
words which should be used by every Christian: 

"I knew that I was done with sin, 
I knew that Christ had given me birth. 
To brother all the sons of earth." 

These men of Jesus of the early dawn carried 
with them a sacramental spirit to impart the grace 
of the gospel of love and redemption to all who 
were without its blessed benefits. Divine virtue 
thus went forth from them to heal, to comfort, to 
purify and to gladden troubled lives. They gave 
themselves to the work, not as though it were a 
superficial performance and a perfunctory task, 
to be gotten through as speedily as possible. 
They took it as a privileged toil at which they 
continued until nightfall. Their persistence they 
received through intimate and constant associa- 
tion with him who came, not to be ministered unto 



34 Essentials of Evangelism 

but to minister and to give his life a ransom for 
many. It is said of Fra Angelico that he painted 
the Crucifixion on his knees and with deep emo- 
tion. He is reported to have said that ^^He who 
would do the work of Christ must dwell contin- 
ually with him.'' Such was the practice of the 
first followers as it has been that of the faithful 
in every generation. They caught the spirit of 
the Master and so they had his accent and manner, 
his purpose and bearing, his ministry and service. 
Their character was marked by quietness and 
confidence, strength and repose, joy and patience, 
assurance and endurance. Thus they gave answer 
to controversy and criticism, and were more than 
conquerors through him that loved them and 
loveth us. 

" blessed work for Jesus ! 
O rest at Jesus' feet! 
There toil seems pleasure. 
My wants are treasure, 
And pain for him is sweet. 
Lord, if I may, 
ril serve another day! '^ 



CHAPTER THREE 



THE SUPREME UNCTION 



THE work of the first Christian community 
was inaugurated on the day of Pentecost. 
It was signalised by the out-pouring of the 
Holy Spirit. But we must not think of Pentecost 
in terms of the calendar, for there was a continu- 
ous experience of energy which increased from 
more to more according to the faith, love and 
obedience of the disciples. The initial enduement 
w^as marked by the gift of tongues which was more 
a freedom of speech for testimony than any ec- 
static exhibitions. The men who had been timid 
and fearful were now possessed of abounding 
courage and fearless aggressiveness. In their 
desire to exalt the Name that is above every name, 
they went out of the way to proclaim its virtues. 
Such was their ardour that they broke through 
national barriers and age-long prejudices and pro- 
claimed to Jew and Samaritan, to Roman and 
Greek, the glories of the Christ. Converts multi- 
plied wherever these flaming evangelists went. 
^^So mightily grew the word of God and pre- 
vailed.'' The forward movements were all ac- 
companied by spiritual exhibitions which were 
distinct manifestations of the working of the Holy 

35 



36 Essentials of Evangelism 

Spirit in and througli these believers, for the 
greater glory of God and his Christ. 

It was this fact of the indwelling spirit which 
explains the intrepid energy, the zealous perse- 
verance, the holy enthusiasm, the inspirational 
devotion of the early Christians. God was not 
afar off but near at hand, andl they had a vivid 
consciousness of the divine presence. They gave 
the impression that they had the best thing in the 
world. They further let it be known in so attrac- 
tive a manner that enquirers appeared who 
promptly entered into the enjoyment of the Pente- 
costal blessedness. The fulness of the Spirit was 
the secret of their conspicuous success as it was 
the primary and indispensable qualification for 
effective evangelism. The divine Spirit did not 
touch them from without but transformed them 
from within. So one chased a thousand and two 
put ten thousand to flight, illustrating at once the 
source of their ability which was from above, and 
the significance of their unity, in that two men, 
in the communion of the Spirit, did not do twice 
the work of one but ten times the work of one, 
according to the process of multiplication in the 
spiritual world. 

There may be other advantages like organi- 
sation and scholarship and institutions, but they 
are of real worth only when they are connected 
with the dynamo of God. Thus did there come 
power to move men — to enlighten the mind, to stir 



The Supreme Unction 37 

the conscience, to warm the heart, to direct the 
will and to sway the life Godwards. Take the 
case of Apollos who was both learned and elo- 
quent. But he was at best only a preacher of 
ethical culture and his appeals continued to be 
ineffectual until he received the evangelical ex- 
perience. A similar illustration was that of 
Thomas Chalmers who was an exemplary minister 
so far as he went. But there came a spiritual 
crisis when, after much searching, he made the 
great surrender, and then his career witnessed a 
release of energies that made him the conspicuous 
leader of the church in Scotland and one of the 
great Christian prophets of the nineteenth cen- 
tury. Go back in time to the twelve men whom 
Paul met at Ephesus. They were earnest and 
sincere and willing to work, but they were without 
spiritual ability. They had received the baptism 
of repentance unto a great expectation of the 
coming Messiah. The deliverer had already 
come, of which they were not aware, and so Paul 
offered them the baptism of redemption unto a 
gracious experience and a glorious enduement. 
Pentecost is related to Calvary and the two must 
never be separated. There can be renewal of life 
only as there is redemption from sin. The Holy 
Spirit has been well described as ^^the missing 
factor in our personality." It was only after 
these twelve men accepted Christ as Saviour that 
they experienced the spirit of revival and quick- 



38 Essentials of Evangelism 

ening, which radically changed them. The abid- 
ing presence of the Spirit with them and within 
them empowered and enabled them to become 
effectual helpers of the apostle in the evangelisa- 
tion of Ephesus and around. Until the fire of the 
Spirit fell on them they w^ere arrested in their 
movements, but afterwards they had grip and tone 
and resonance. They were emancipated from all 
encumbrances and entered upon the campaign 
with the white heat of enthusiasm. Under these 
circumstances, we are not surprised to read of 
the mighty revival which swept through the city, 
so that Diana the goddess had to give way to 
Christ the Redeemer. 

This is the central issue before the Christian 
church. Questions of organisation and method 
are absolutely subordinate to the vital question of 
the control of our life by the Holy Spirit. Other 
matters are to be determined by local necessities 
but this is the preeminent consideration, to be 
faced everywhere and by everyone with serious- 
ness and urgency. There can be union and unity 
only in the Holy Spirit ; there can be communion 
only of the Holy Spirit ; there can be power only 
through the Holy Spirit; there can be advance 
only with the Holy Spirit. If we work indepen- 
dently of this divine agency we are bound to fail. 
This indeed has been the case, as we think of the 
present spiritual helplessness of the church. We 
do not deny the activity of ecclesiastical machin- 



The Supreme Unction 39 

ery of all types and sizes, but there seems to be 
a strange lack of power. Only the enlightening 
and energising Spirit can make of the church an 
inspired and inspiring people, who by reason of 
their superior vitality will destroy the enervating 
and enfeebling atmosphere of the world, with its 
disregard and discounting of the creative and re- 
demptive presence of the everlasting God. This 
will give the aroma and fragrance of the full 
Christian life with its exuberance of joy and glad- 
ness. The melody in the heart will express itself 
in song. The power of song is mighty. That is 
why our soldiers in training are taught to sing. 
If there is anything worth singing about, it will 
drive out all the poisonous vapours which depress 
the spirits. The languid feeling, the laggard 
movement, the weary look, the sense of defeat, 
will be replaced by buoyant optimism, gladsome 
endurance, dauntless vigour and singing confi- 
dence. 

What do we commonly find in the church? 
There are lines of weariness on the face when it 
should reflect the light of heaven. Instead of the 
animating note of conviction we hear what might 
be called machine-made opinions with the clang 
and clatter of chains, more suggestive of bondage 
than of freedom. A present illumination will 
not lead us nervously seeking for precedents but 
will give us independence of the past, which need 
not necessarily imply that we lose our respect for 



40 Essentials of Evangelism 

the honoured and holy past. The desire for a 
higher life, a closer walk with God, a fuller sense 
of his fellowship, a keener insight in discerning 
his will, a heartier willingness to remedy the 
wrongs of life even at the cost of sacrij&ce, a more 
eager response to the cry of need and anguish, a 
readier sympathy with the sufferer are among the 
marks of the militant church. But the attitude 
and life of Christians hardly convey the impres- 
sion made by their Master, who said of himself : 
^^I ami in the midst of you as he that serveth.^' 
Surely there is a distinction that needs to be 
clearly understood, a truth that must be accepted, 
an emphasis that should be recovered by the 
church. We are straitened in ourselves and so 
we have become limited in the exercise of that in- 
fluence which is strictly conditioned by the daily, 
personal renewal of the Holy Spirit. Doctor J. 
H. Jowett's testimony in his volume, *^The Pas- 
sion for Souls,'' deserves to be most earnestly 
considered. ^ ^ Speaking for myself, I have to say 
that even when for a day I enter upon my inheri- 
tance, and realise the ineffable nearness of the 
great Companion-Spirit, the strain not only goes 
out of my mind and heart, but I feel the very 
wrinkles and care-lines being smoothed out of my 
face. If we were children of Pentecost, living up 
to our spiritual times, heart 's-ease would bloom 
just within our gate, and the weary wayfarer 
would be stopped by its perfume, and would 



The Supreme Unction 41 

question us as to the secret and manner of its 
growth. ' ' 

At different periods in the history of the 
church, great truths which were overlooked and 
neglected have arrested attention like the re- 
splendence of the sun at high-noon. Such occa- 
sions have been invariably followed by revivals, 
when the church entered as it were upon a new 
career in a spirit of rejuvenescence. So was it 
at the Eef ormation, when Luther declared that a 
man is justified by faith. So was it at the Evan- 
gelical revival, when Wesley proclaimed the as- 
surance of salvation and the witness of the Spirit. 
So in the recent awakening of the social con- 
science, when the church is being brought to see 
the imperious necessity of applying the social 
teachings of Jesus, the prophets and the apostles 
for the Christianisation of all society. So also 
after the church has passed through the fiery 
ordeal of war, it will realise how utterly inade- 
quate is reliance on temporal resources. It will 
then seek and obtain the spiritual reinvigoration 
that comes from the eternal Spirit of the living 
God. Well for us if the sense of insufficiency has 
already smitten us. We shall then be driven to 
our knees in penitent supplication, in genuine sur- 
render, in sincere consecration, to obtain the 
power which will give us greatest capacity and 
largest achievement. Professor J. Rendel Harris, 
a New Testament scholar and one of the rare 



42 Essentials of Evangelism 

spiritual teachers of the church, says in 
^^ Aaron's Breastplate": ^^To put the matter 
plainly for practical people, the Pentecostal gift 
is, to a large extent, one of the lapsed experiences 
of the Christian Church. Every believer ought 
to have the experience ; only a few really have it 
and confess it. For us, then, it is not a question 
how the first believers reached the blessing, but 
how may modern believers get back to it. As far 
as we are concerned, the gift and grace of which 
we speak lies in the Spiritual Lost Property 
Office. And if that is so, I say without hesitation 
that a minute description of the lost property is 
not necessary to the establishment of a claim. 
The fact that you are seeking something which 
you have lost is presumptive evidence in your 
favour. . . . And while we value exactness in 
spiritual things, wherever it can be obtained by 
creatures as normally inexact as ourselves, we 
need not think that it all turns on an exact defini- 
tion. The theology of the experience is not ab- 
solutely necessary to the experience. What is 
necessary is that we should hunger and thirst 
after righteousness. "What is certain is that if 
we do so hunger we shall be sated. ' ' 

Our identity is not lost when we thus identify 
ourselves with God. Our individuality is rather 
deepened and intensified and our faculties are 
reinforced. There is a marked release of energy 
which enhances personality. What is latent 



The Supreme Unction 43 

comes to the surface, and powers of which we 
were hardly aware are stirred within us. In a 
very literal and true sense we become a new 
creation, even the workmanship of God, created 
in Christ Jesus for good works, "m righteousness 
and holiness of truth." There is no room in such 
a life for the pettiness of selfishness and strife, 
for the rancour of discord and jealousy, for the 
bitterness of spite and ill-will. We shall, instead, 
give diligence, ^^to keep the unity of the Spirit in 
the bond of peace.'' We shall see to it that the 
peace of Christ rules in our hearts and that the 
word of Christ dwells in us richly in all wisdom ; 
and whatsoever we do, in word or deed, we shall 
doi all in the name of the Lord Jesus, according 
to the Spirit of the Master, who did alw^ays those 
things that pleased the Father. Paul condemned 
the Corinthian Christians because their behaviour 
was un-Christlike ; and he pointed out how absurd 
it was to expect to win the world by unwinsome 
means. The Holy Spirit is a glad Spirit. He 
does not make for confusion and disorder but for 
harmony and unity. He inspires to steadfastness 
and continuance in well-doing. He is the Spirit 
of truth and those who are influenced by him have 
the note of reality and genuineness. He is the 
Spirit of holiness; the Christian character is 
therefore distinguished by healthy and wholesome 
virtues. He is the Spirit of power; the life which 
is strengthened by him does not yield to despair, 



44 Essentials of Evangelism 

nor surrender to defeat, nor give way to discour- 
agement. Thus did those men of the New Testa- 
ment live; and as you read this remarkable little 
book you never come across the minor key in the 
music of their Spirit-filled lives. Every page is 
written in the style of the doxology, although its 
writers had suffered much which might have jus- 
tified the passing lapse into an occasional com- 
plaint. They were constantly aware of the rich 
resources of their ally, the divine Companion ; and 
even when it was darkest they were certain that 
the rift in the cloud would appear somewhere, 
somehow, sometime. In this confidence they were 
heroically sustained by the blessed Presence and 
they had the peace of God which passeth all 
understanding. 

When you are run down physically hard tasks 
are difficult and you feel a nervous strain in every- 
thing. A tonic is then necessary to brace up the 
system. When you suffer from spiritual de- 
pression and are easily upset, when you are 
quickly discouraged and lightly lose heart, it may 
be due to general depletion. But do not sit under 
a juniper tree. ^^Go forth, and stand upon the 
mount before the Lord.'^ You will there learn 
that his presence is not in the strong wind nor in 
the earthquake nor in the fire, but in the still small 
voice. As you listen you will hear: and when you 
understand, obey. Thus will you be refreshed at 
the fountain of life and be able to lead others also 



The Supreme Unction 45 

to him who giveth what shall become in each one 
' ' a well of water springing up unto eternal life. ' ' 
The source of power is within your reach. But 
you cannot receive its benefits unless you are will- 
ing to let the spirit of self give way to the Spirit 
of God. Thus only could you be controlled, di- 
rected and sustained by him, who is the life of 
life, for your joy and rejoicing in all things, 

" Spirit, who makest aU things new. 
Thou leadest onward: we pursue 

The heavenly march sublime. 
^Neath thy renewing fire we glow, 
And still from strength to strength we go, 

From height to height we climb. 

" In thee we rise, in thee we rest ; 
We stay at home, we go in quest. 

Still thou art our abode. 
The rapture swells, the wonder grows. 
As full on us new life still flows 

From our unchanging God." 



CHAPTER FOUR 



THE CENTEAL PKACTIOE 



IT was only after Pentecost that the disciples 
understood the true value of prayer. They 
were instructed to wait for the promise of the 
Father before undertaking their appointed work 
of evangelism. They therefore with one accord 
continued steadfastly in prayer. But this period 
of energetic expectation was interrupted by Peter. 
He suggested that they should take some time to 
select a successor to Judas the traitor. The 
choice fell on Matthias of whom we hear nothing 
in the later activities of the church. I cannot give 
up the thought that this was a premature and 
mistaken move. God had in mind a different sort 
of man to fill this vacancy. He was ^^born out of 
due time," to use his own words; but he was to 
appear on the scene at the appointed time to dis- 
charge a magnificent apostleship, in the spread of 
the evangel. By the grace of God, Paul made 
room for himself from the beginning. It has fre- 
quently happened in the history of the church that 
men have tried to improve the divine program in- 
stead of carrying it out in obedience, and have 
thereby placed themselves farther from the goal 
than when they started out. The first thing and 

46 



The Central Practice 47 

the only thing that the Lord required his disciples 
to do was to pray and wait for the enduement by 
the Holy Spirit. They would then understand 
how best to fulfil their commission and introduce 
new and more effective methods of work. A 
finely constructed engine according to the latest 
model is of no value unless it has steam or elec- 
tricity. More important than perfecting the or- 
ganisation as to the personnel of the leadership 
and the like is to obtain the capital wherewith to 
operate it. What John Mott recently said is sadly 
true: ^*An alarming weakness among Christians 
is that we are producing Christian activities 
faster than we are producing Christian experience 
and Christian faith.'' In spite of the movement 
and noise of ecclesiastical machinery, the results 
accomplished are out of all proportion to the 
efforts put forth. The outstanding cause is hon- 
estly stated in a volume of essays entitled, ' * Con- 
cerning Prayer,'' by representative leaders of 
British thought. ^*In all the churches of late 
there has resounded a call to prayer. It has met 
with singularly little response. The reason is 
not far to seek. The present generation is ready 
to respond to a call for higher service — that has 
been demonstrated by the war — but the times do 
not allow men to put thought and effort into any- 
thing unless they are convinced that it is well 
worth while. And at the back of most men's 
minds there is the belief, more or less clearly de- 



48 Essentials of Evangelism 

fined, that prayer is an activity the value of which 
is so open to question, that for the men and 
women who have to carry on the world's work it 
decidedly is not worth while ; it may safely be left 
to ministers and) monks and to pious ladies who 
have nothing else to do." 

This is a challenge of indifference which must 
be accepted. If religion is union with God then 
there must be communion with God, in order that 
its efficacy might be increasingly experienced. 
Now, prayer is the essence of religion, and the 
consciousness of the love of God is the essence of 
prayer. So that without the practise of prayer 
we are left without any foundation. The baptism 
of the Holy Spirit gave to the disciples the accent 
and authority of prayer. It was offered in the 
name of Christ, whose will and purpose they ac- 
cepted for their own guidance. He strictly en- 
joined them to cultivate the true inwardness of 
life, and he made it clear that it was possible only 
through prayer. Certain conditions must how- 
ever be diligently observed. ^^When thou pray- 
est, enter into thine inner chamber, and having 
shut thy door, pray to thy Father who is in secret, 
and thy Father who seeth in secret shall recom- 
pense thee.'' It is a place of quiet — this of 
prayer, where the distractions of contrary coun- 
sels and interests are set aside for the sake of 
meditation. It is also a place of silence, where we 
cease our clatter and listen to the still small voice 



The Central Practice 49 

for understanding and direction. It is further a 
place of calmness, when the winds of God blow 
over the soul and there comes the peace of God 
which passeth all understanding. The terms of 
the divine promise are explicit: ^' Where two or 
three are gathered together in my name, there am 
I in the midst of them.'' The emphasis is on the 
spirit and attitude of those assembled, without 
any reference to numbers. When those who are 
in personal fellowship with God associate with 
one another in the exercises of supplication, they 
enter into the richest religious experiences. They 
pray in unity of spirit and there is unanimity as 
their desires sound together. Deliverance came 
to Peter from prison in answer to the united, fer- 
vent, continued prayer of the disciples. When 
Peter and John were threatened by the authori- 
ties, they returned to their company, and when 
^^they had prayed, the place was shaken where 
they were gathered together." These two in- 
stances, and others can be multiplied, carry their 
own message and need no note nor comment. 
Think of John Wycliffe and his russet preachers, 
of Luther, Melanchthon and their associates, of 
Wesley and the Holy Club, of Livingstone in 
Africa, of Paton in the New Hebrides, of the Hay- 
stack meeting, of Charles Haddon Spurgeon, of 
George Miiller, of Dwight L. Moody. The out- 
burst of spiritual activity and zeal with which 
these several men were connected was directly 



50 Essentials of Evangelism 

due to the fellowship of prayer. It can never be 
otherwise. We hold conventions and conferences, 
to listen to noted speakers and to reports from 
committees. We then pass resolutions and flatter 
ourselves that everything is prosperous. It is a 
delusion. At very few of our religious gatherings 
does prayer occupy a conspicuous place, and when 
it does appear it takes an apologetic stand behind 
a song service or some such device, which is more 
or less of a compromise measure. The pathos of 
it all is that we are not conscious of the fact of 
loss, and yet we are being smitten hip and thigh 
by the enemy, and are left high and dry. 

Real prayer depends on a true conception of 
God. He is not a harsh tyrant before whom we 
should grovel in abject submission. He is not a 
whimsical taskmaster whose judgment is warped 
by passion and prejudice. He is not a blood- 
thirsty demon who is satisfied only with rivers of 
blood. He is our Father who does not need to be 
coaxed or bribed or flattered or entreated with 
much speaking before he hears us. He does for 
us exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or 
think, and he confers his blessings with a liberal 
hand, without stint or limitation. Hence the en- 
couraging exhortation: *^Let us draw near with a 
true heart, in absolute assurance of faith." Much 
of the trouble with most prayers is the lack of 
faith. Hence there is uncertainty and hesitation. 
If we actually believe that prayer is the mightiest 



The Central Practice 



force on earth to sway the destinies of men, we 
will rely on it with whole-hearted abandon and use 
it with enthusiastic confidence. In the presence 
of the withered fig tree, Jesus urged his disciples 
to have faith in God, and he added: ^* Whosoever 
shall say unto this mountain, be thou taken up and 
cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, 
but shall believe that what he saith cometh to 
pass; he shall have it/' How different this is to 
that cringing attitude which is common in many 
books of devotion. Turn to * ' The Spiritual Exer- 
cises of St. Ignatius, '^ and you find that the spirit 
of the suppliant is both pagan and artificial, and 
radically different to the exhilarating atmosphere 
of filial freedom which we breathe in the presence 
of Jesus. Or read the ^^ Private Devotions'' of 
Bishop Andrewes, and in spite of Doctor Alex- 
ander Whyte's eulogy, you find yourself in a 
world of ascetic mortifications, so unlike the 
breezy open air of the gospels. Jesus was much 
in prayer but it did not consist of protracted 
petitioning as of continuous communing with God. 
When demands on his time and energy pressed on 
him, he insisted on spending time in solitude for 
intercession and inspiration. ^^In the morning," 
before the distractions began to interfere; ^^when 
even was come," at the close of the day's labours, 
Jesus found refreshment in the presence of hi^ 
Father. This secret of power has been enjoyecc 
by others who have been with the Master in the 



52 Essentials of Evangelism 

^^ school of prayer." It has been well said that, 
^^the man who prays will be found to be the man 
who is generative and operative when others are 
non-resultant.'' 

The nature of prayer is as manysided as life 
at its noblest and best. There is adoration with 
reverence, thanksgiving and praise, as we come 
into the presence of the Divine, recognising the 
majesty and holiness, the might and grace of God, 
and rejoicing in the mercies so opulently con- 
veyed to us. There is confession which keeps one 
humble, as he acknowledges sin and imperfection, 
and pleads the merits of the blessed Saviour, and 
seeks for pardon and renewal of life in sincere 
obedience. There is supplication when we submit 
our needs to God, not as though we were making a 
demand but expressing an earnest desire, like the 
Man of Gethsemane, who said: ^^Not my will but 
thine be done." While petition has reference to 
oneself, the act of intercession is prayer on behalf 
of others. It is the highest form of prayer when 
we carry the needs of others in a vicarious spirit, 
and are ready to go to the limit of sacrifice and 
suffering. You have a new interest in those for 
whom you have earnestly prayed. It invariably 
prepares you to do more and better for them. 
Think of the interceding Christ in the Upper 
Eoom, when he poured out his soul for his im- 
mediate and prospective disciples. Then think 
of Christ on Calvary, and you will realise that 



The Central Practice 53 

intercession always leads to the noblest service. 
*^He is able to save unto the uttermost . . . 
seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for us.'' 
The bearing of this on evangelism can be demon- 
strated without any lengthy argument. An inter- 
ceding church is a victorious church, concerning 
which our Lord said : ' ' The gates of hell shall not 
prevail against it.'' Every revival is sent of God 
but it is also the '^result of strivings and plead- 
ings and agonies of desire," as well as of strag- 
glings and wrestlings and activities of will in 
every walk of life, inspired thereto by the Spirit 
of Christ. '^As soon as Zion travailed she 
brought forth children." Are we willing to go 
down into the valley of humiliation, and pay the 
price of sacrifice, and take our life in our hands, 
and thus show a spirit of determination as we 
begin a season of supplication and intercession? 
We shall then reap the reward. 

All prayer is based on the filial spirit, and what 
counts most is the direction of our prayer. Our 
will is not dormant but dominant, and through 
prayer we seek to rise to those higher levels where 
God's will reigns supreme. On those holy heights 
the human will is charged and surcharged, formed 
and transformed, endued and endowed by the 
Spirit divine. Man then approaches God not as 
a suppliant in a spirit of fatalism, but as a sym- 
pathiser in the spirit of faith. *^The curse of so 
much religion is that men cling to God with their 



54 Essentials of Evangelism 

weakness rather than with their strength. '^ For- 
syth, who quotes this sentence from George Mere- 
dith, adds: ^^Let us beware of a pietist fatalism 
which thins the spiritual life, saps the vigour of 
character, makes humility mere acquiescence and 
piety only feminine, by banishing the will from 
prayer as much as thought has been banished from 
it/' Prayer when rightly understood is the real 
battlefield of life. The inevitable wrestling in 
prayer makes it a serious, an exacting and an 
exhausting business. In the garden our Lord 
sweat as it were great drops of blood, in his stern 
endeavour, at that hour of darkness, to enter into 
the full counsel of God with unreserved surrender. 
The outcome in Gethsemane explains his victory 
at Calvary. If we would meet dark days and 
nerve-racking difficulties, it must be in a spirit of 
calmness and self-possession which can be ob- 
tained by the use of the sacrament of prayer. 

" Be not afraid to pray — ^to pray is right. 
Pray, if thou canst, with hope; but ever pray, 
Though hope be weak, or sick with long delay; 
Pray in the darkness, if there be no light. 
Far is the time, remote from human sight, 
When war and discord on the earth shall cease. 
Yet every prayer for universal peace 
Avails the blessed time to expedite. 
Whatever is good to wish, ask that of Heaven, 
Though it be what thou canst not hope to see; 
Pray to be perfect, though material leaven 
Forbid the spirit so on earth to be; 
But if for any wish thou darest not pray, 
Then pray to God to cast that wish away." 



The Central Practice 55 

Answers to prayer do not consist so much in 
receiving what we ask as in getting insight and 
moral strength for the performance of duty. It 
is illumination that we need, which gives us guid- 
ance and ability to do at any cost. ^^We know not 
how to pray as we ought/' wrote the apostle, ^^but 
the Spirit himself maketh intercession for us." 
So if we pray in the Spirit, weakness will turn to 
strength, uncertainty to confidence, fear into cour- 
age, anxiety into assurance, panic into peace. 
These are the true answers to the waiting soul, 
and, it means that we obtain inspiration for en- 
durance and continuance in the work of evan- 
gelism. How easy it is to become discouraged, 
especially when results do not immediately follow 
earnest and sustained efforts ! But by prayer the 
mind is strengthened, the will is invigorated, the 
life is kept joyous and equable. But let us not 
infer that prayers are not literally answered. 
The lives of Christians abundantly illustrate that 
fervent supplications are actually heard. We 
have only to mention the names of such leaders 
like Andrew Murray, George Miiller, Hudson 
Taylor, Chinese Gordon, George Matheson, to be 
reminded that this is one of the joys of the prayer 
life. ^^No really great theologian, no really great 
believer,'' says W. Robertson NicoU, '^has ever 
lived to whom prayer was not infinitely more im- 
portant than any mere exercise of the intellect." 
Let us recover the habit of prayer which has been 



56 Essentials of Evangelism 

lost by spiritual inertia and attention to secondary 
matters. You can do this by directly giving your- 
self to prayer and by keeping at it, until the cloud 
appears in the brazen sky. But do not stop when 
the showers descend. Keep up the blessed prac- 
tice and continue unceasing in prayer for the 
triumphs of the Church and the Kingdom through- 
out the world. 

" If we with earnest effort could succeed 
To make our life one long connected prayer. 
As lives of some perhaps have been and are; 
If never leaving Thee, we had no need 
Our wandering spirits back again to lead 
Into Thy presence, but continued there, 
Like angels standing on the highest stair 
Of the sapphire throne, this were to pray indeed. 
But if distractions manifold prevail, 
And if in this we must confess we fail. 
Grant us to keep at least a prompt desire. 
Continual readiness for prayer and praise, 
An altar heaped and waiting to take fire 
With the least spark, and leap into a blaze." 



CHAPTER FIVE 



THE HOLY PASSION 



WE can really understand a person if we 
know what is the underlying purpose of 
his life. There are many interests in 
most lives but back of all there is what Doctor 
Henry VanDyke has well called a ^^ ruling pas- 
sion. ' ' If that is known you have got at the secret 
of personality. ' ' Music, nature, children, honour, 
strife, revenge, money, pride, friendship, loyalty, 
duty — to these objects and to others like them, the 
secret power of personal passion often turns, and 
the life unconsciously follows it, as the tides in the 
sea follow the moon in the sky. ' ^ Many apparent 
inconsistencies are also better understood and 
they cease to be regarded as such when we know 
what is the absorbing thought, aim and desire of 
any individual. Many errors of judgment can 
thus be avoided as we get behind the scenes of 
life. John Morley in his life of Gladstone refers 
to the wonderful versatility of this British states- 
man and goes on to say: '^All his activities were 
in his mind one. Political life was only part of 
his religious life. It was religion that prompted 
his literary life. It was the religious motive that 
through a thousand avenues and channels stirred 

57 



58 Essentials of Evangelism 

him and guided him in his whole conception of 
active, social duty.'' The apostle Paul frequently 
refers to the purpose that was controlling, stimu- 
lating and compelling him. ^'The love of Christ 
constraineth us," is a brief but weighty sentence 
which lucidly expresses the prevailing passion of 
his life. In the light of it, we are able to under- 
stand and appreciate his whole career. He was 
indebted to the Redeemer Christ beyond all that 
tongue could tell, and daily did his sense of obliga- 
tion increase. The promise of the gospel of sal- 
vation was so thoroughly fulfilled in his own life 
that he experienced the passionate passion of the 
gospel and was ready on every occasion to preach 
its good tidings. Whether he was speaking to a 
single individual like Felix the governor or to 
Onesimus the runaway slave; or whether he was 
addressing a company, composed of royalty or 
of the common people, he was always eager to 
induce his hearers to accept the message of Christ 
and receive deliverance from sin. He became all 
things to all men that he might by all means save 
them. It was not rhetoric when he soberly de- 
clared : ^^I could have wished myself accursed and 
banished from Christ for the sake of my brothers, 
my natural kinsmen"; and again when he said: 
^^I am debtor both to Greeks and Barbarians, both 
to the wise and to the foolish." It was this same 
irrepressible ardour which he showed when, after 
he was stoned at Lystra almost to the point of 



The Holy Passion 59 

death, he returned to that same city in a few 
days, fearless and faithful (Acts 14:19-21). 

Paul was certain beyond any shadow of doubt 
that the world was alienated and estranged from 
God. He was also confident that only through 
Christ could man be restored to friendship with 
God. He knew that many had wandered away 
from the Father owing to ignorance of his char- 
acter and a misunderstanding of his purpose of 
world-wide redemption. He always made a 
point of emphasising the truth that all people 
are equally precious in the sight of God and that 
in Christ every wall of separation has for ever 
been abolished, be it racial, ethnic, national, social 
or what not. He moreover had the courage to 
accept this conclusion, although he was severely 
criticised by some of his fellow-Christians for 
going too far and letting down the bars of in- 
herited privilege, in the name of Jesus Christ, who 
was the first to recognise only the privilege of 
genuine merit and intrinsic worth. It is cer- 
tainly refreshing to be in the company of this 
fervent preacher who was so far ahead of his 
times, as indeed he is of our own times, and whose 
teaching of Christ the Saviour and Unifier of all 
peoples puts the blush of shame upon us for being 
so provincial and superficial. 

We are doubtless familiar with the words of 
Jesus spoken in defence or in explanation of his 
practices ; but they have a deeply profound mean- 



6o Essentials of Evangelism 

ing when considered in the light of recent events. 
' ' The Son of man has come to seek and to save the 
lost/' was the reason why he extended the hospi- 
tality of the gospel to Zaccheus the outcast. ^ ' The 
Son of man has not come to be served but to serve, 
and to give his life a ransom for many/' was said 
to his disciples, who were obsessed by thoughts of 
place and position and ignored the uncomfortable 
mission of sacrificing and sacrificial service of 
those who were socially submerged, for whom also 
Christ had died. Jesus treated everyone with 
respect, and by his gracious bearing he drew out 
of the inner recesses of the soul those feelings 
and desires which find satisfaction only in fellow- 
ship with the heavenly Father. Nowhere do we 
see any spirit of indifference or hopelessness con- 
cerning the spiritual possibilities of men. Jesus 
always had a wholesome confidence in the re- 
demptibility of everyone. His life was therefore 
heartily consecrated to the business of winning 
them for God, with an enthusiasm that was con- 
tinuous and costly. It involved the sacrifice on 
the Cross, which was the price of this all-dominat- 
ing passion for the highest welfare of the whole 
human race. *^ Perhaps the conscience of him who 
feels that he is obliged to go as far as this for 
men, most of whom he has never seen, none of 
whom can wholly please him, and many of whom 
pain him unutterably is the crowning marvel. 
The sense of obligation revealed at Calvary is its 



The Holy Passion ti 

supreme surprise.'' So wrote Doctor Coffin in 
his searching volume of sermons on ^^ Social 
Aspects of the Cross. ' ' On another page he says : 
^^It is only when we are convinced of Christ's 
individual concern in every one of the millions of 
China, or of the thousands on a congested city 
block that we are at one with him. We then cease 
arguing about their worth, their improvability, 
their need of more justice or better religion. 
What each is to the heart of God in Christ, that 
and nothing less he is to us." 

This deep sense of obligation was shared to the 
full by Paul and the writers of the New Testa- 
ment. ^^ We love, because he first loved us," said 
John. The love for Christ thus had a reflex in- 
fluence. You cannot love Christ without loving 
what he loved, and showing your love in ways 
that are suggestive of his spirit. ^^I desire to 
burn out for my God," said Henry Martyn, as he 
began missionary work in India. How very like 
Paul, who spoke of the constraining love of Christ. 
The word constrain has the elements of strength. 
It describes an active and not a passive experi- 
ence. Eestraint is negative, and does not lead to 
redemption, either of oneself or of others. Con- 
straint implies an urging and an impelling. It 
holds together the several impulses of the soul; it 
shuts them in and confines within bounds like the 
banks of a river for depth, and so there is con- 
centration for effectiveness. Such was the ex- 



62 Essentials of Evangelism 

perience which led Paul to say: ^^This one thing 
I do.'' Everything else was subordinated to the 
supreme business of bringing men to God. His 
evangelistic spirit has been well described by F. 
W. H. Myers in the stirring poem, *^ Saint PauP' : 

" Oft when the Word is on me to deliver 

Lifts the illusion and the truth lies bare; 
Desert or throng, the city or the river. 
Melts in a lucid Paradise of air; — 

" Only like souls I see the folk thereunder. 

Bound who should conquer, slaves who should be kings,— ^ 
Hearing their one hope with an empty wonder, 
Sadly contented in a show of things; — 

" Then with a rush the intolerable craving 

Shivers throughout me like a trumpet-call, — 
Oh to save these! to perish for their saving, 
Die for their life, be oifered for them all! " 

No one can feel in this way except those who 
have the vision of Christ. It was said of Hugh 
Price Hughes, the English Methodist, that he re- 
covered for his church its ancient passion for the 
souls of men and set it in living power in the 
stream of modern life. But Hughes believed in 
the redemption of the whole man and was one of 
the pioneers in preaching social Christianity. In 
replying to a charge that he was not preaching 
the gospel when he discussed social questions, he 
said: '^I might have settled the matter by saying 
that I had no disembodied ^souls' in my congrega- 



The Holy Passion 63 

tion, but that I had souls incarnate, souls attached 
to, bodies and that we must deal with man as a 
complex being. There is too much truth in the 
saying I have often quoted of late that ' some very 
earnest Christians are so diligently engaged in 
saving souls that they have no time to save men 
and women.' ^' Those who have the passion and 
compassion of Jesus will be stirred to carry out 
his whole program and they will co-operate to do 
so with joy. There will be earnestness and seri- 
ousness of purpose ; there will be tenderness and 
tactf ulness of manner ; there will be patience and 
endurance in practice ; there will be sensitiveness 
to every need and readiness to adjust ourselves 
to the divers and distracted relationships of 
life. Enthusiasm is so balanced and buoyant a 
disposition that it knows nothing of times and 
seasons. It has convictions as to the rightfulness 
of the cause ; it has courage in the face of ridicule 
and calumny ; it shows continuance in well-doing ; 
it keeps its hand on the plough and its eyes look- 
ing forward until the whole field is cultivated. 
Just as Jesus came into the world with a redemp- 
tive passion and was swayed by it to the very last 
and unto the uttermost, so must it be with every 
Christian, who offers not a system of morality but 
a heart of love. 

" One holy passion filling all my frame ; 

The kindling of the heaven-descended dove. 
My heart an altar, and thy love the flame." 



64 Essentials of Evangelism 

Love always means sacrifice. ^^God so loved 
the world that he gave his only begotten Son.'^ 
Doctor Jowett well says : ' ' The gospel of a broken 
heart demands the ministry of bleeding hearts. 
If that succession be broken we lose our fellow- 
ship with the King. As soon as we cease to bleed 
we cease to bless. When our sympathy loses its 
pang we can no longer be the servants of the 
passion.'' But how can sympathy be shown un- 
less we take the point of view of the other person 
and suffer with him in his sorrow and distress? 
There is nothing officious nor official but human 
and humane in such a Christ-inspired fellow-feel- 
ing. How can you be friendly unless you bring 
succour in the hour of need, even at the cost of 
your own inconvenience and discomfort? How 
can there be compassion unless you carry the 
burden on your own soul, even if it must wear you 
down to the point of exhaustion? Said one of 
old: ^^I will not offer unto the Lord my God of 
that which cost me nothing. ' ' "What you do with- 
out effort accomplishes little. There must be 
wrestling in prayer, tirelessness in work, eager 
watchfulness for opportunities, willingness to 
continue although repeatedly rebuffed. This is 
how men have laboured who got results in the 
home field as well as on the mission field. Father 
Stanton who worked for fifty years in a congested 
London parish said that he preferred to be known 
as ^ ' an enthusiast for the love of Jesus. ' ' He thus 



The Holy Passion 65 

entered vicariously into communion with Christ, 
for the sake of saving souls — '^to displace vice by 
purity, hatred by love, despair by joy; working 
never alone, but with Jesus, and knowing this.'^ 

This truly is the spirit of the Cross, and it is 
indispensable for the possession and the practice 
of the holy passion. '^Paganism is an elaborate 
device to do without the Cross. Yet it is ever a 
futile device, for the Cross is in the very grain 
and essence of all life; it is absolutely necessary 
to all permanent and satisfying gladness.'' So 
wrote Doctor John Kelman in his discerning essay 
on Thomson's ^^The Hound of Heaven." It is 
one of the great poems of English literature and 
describes the persistent pursuit of God after the 
soul of man. The seeking God has been perfectly 
incarnated in Jesus Christ, and we who believe in 
him must in turn incarnate this spirit of the 
Saviour in order that a lost world might be 
brought back to God. Such a course alone will 
adequately accomplish the task. 

This then is the great motive of the church. It 
is big enough and strong enough, to carry far, 
even to the ends of the world. Where it operates 
all lesser things will be shamed out of its presence. 
The storm of domestic strife will be calmed; the 
rancour of denominationalism will be suppressed ; 
petty differences will be ignored. The surge and 
thrill of ^4ove divine, all loves excelling" will 
burn out the dross of selfishness and enmity, and 



66 Essentials of Evangelism 

bring all lovers of the Lord to love men in his 
way, and so labour in season and out of season, 
to bring in that better day of universal blessed- 
ness and peace. 

" Zion, haste, thy mission high fulfilling, 
To tell to all the world that God is Light; 
That he who made all nations is not willing 

One soul should perish, lost in shades of night. 
Publish glad tidings; 

Tidings of peace; 
Tidings of Jesus, 

Eedemption and release," 



CHAPTER SIX 

RELIGIOUS CONVERSATION 

THE greatest results have often been ob- 
tained in quiet and out-of-the-way places 
by people whose names have not come down 
to posterity. Christianity was established in the 
city of Antioch after the martyrdom of Stephen 
by some unknown disciples who were driven out 
of Jerusalem by the bloody persecution. "When 
Europe was under the pall of spiritual darkness, 
the Poor Men of Lyons carried about the torch 
of truth. Wyclitf e spread the principles of gospel 
liberty throughout England with the aid of his 
russet preachers. The local preachers of Method- 
ism were indispensable in carrying the evangel 
and they were loyally supported by the followers 
of John Wesley. The enterprise of foreign mis- 
sions which began almost simultaneously with the 
start of Methodism was carried out by conse- 
crated laymen who took service in foreign ports 
as merchants that they might spread Christ's 
kingdom, without embarrassing the far too limited 
exchequer of the missionary society. All these 
devout folk, and many others like them at differ- 
ent periods of the church's history, made effective 

67 



68 Essentials of Evangelism 

strokes for their Christian convictions by seizing 
every opportunity which presented itself in their 
daily intercourse with people. They engaged in 
^'wayside preaching" in the course of business 
and social relations. Their interest in the subject 
was so keen and the influence which it exercised 
over them was so quickening that all they did was 
for the glory of Christ. They found points of 
contact in ordinary topics, and in the most natural 
way they led up to the higher themes of the Chris- 
tian life, and the purpose of the gospel to Chris- 
tianise every vocation and avocation. They be- 
lieved in the sort of social evangelism which is at 
home in every walk of life, and they maintained 
that it was most seemly and proper to refer to it 
in ^* polite" society, as well as in what by an 
unnatural distinction is called ^^ religious" so- 
ciety. They evidently thought it strange that 
anyone should object to the introduction of re- 
ligion as a topic of conversation. If men talk 
about what they are most interested, and welcome 
questions relating to politics, commerce, litera- 
ture, travel, invention, but at the same time ex- 
clude the question of religion, it must be inferred 
that they are not interested in it. This can hardly 
be the case, for religion is the most permanent and 
persistent concern of mankind in every age. The 
reason why it is not frankly talked about may be 
because it is not the custom to do so. The notion 
doubtless prevails that the subject is too sacred 



Religious Conversation 69 

for promiscuous discussion. The fact is that we 
have lost the art of religious conversation by 
sheer neglect and disuse. George W. Pepper, 
himself a layman, suggestively refers to this 
matter in his Yale lectures, ^^A Voice from the 
Crowd." He says: ^^The rehearsal of one's per- 
sonal religious experience is a dangerous habit 
and is to be checked rather than to be encouraged. 
But the place of religion in life, the nature and 
method of revelation, the hope of immortality and 
its bearing upon conduct — these are topics of ex- 
traordinary interest, and intelligent men would do 
well to recognise the fact. We fail to realise that 
to stifle religion is quite as dangerous as to 
feign it." 

The apostle Paul has many counsels on this 
subject. ^^Let your speech be always with grace, 
seasoned with salt. " ^' Let no corrupt speech pro- 
ceed out of our mouth, but such as is good for 
edifying as the need may be, that it may give 
grace to them that hear. ' ' The guiding principle 
of such communications is found in the words of 
Jesus: ^^Out of the abundance of the heart the 
mouth speaketh." Your talk will indicate your 
manner of life. Can it be that if you say nothing, 
it is because you have nothing to say? And yet 
you call yourself a follower of Christ. He ex- 
pected his disciples to be the salt of the earth and 
give to society a purifying influence. He desired 
them to be the light of the world and dispel the 



70 Essentials of Evangelism 

darkness of error and evil. He meant them to be 
of a communicative disposition and to be cheerful 
and amiable in sharing their spiritual treasures 
with others. 

Conversation is at once an informal and an in- 
forming medium of intercourse. If it is to delight 
and profit, it must have the elements of courtesy 
and sympathy, cordiality and interest, goodness 
and patience, calmness and friendliness. The at- 
mosphere must also be warm and genial, with a 
sense of leisureliness, free from reserve and cyni- 
cism. Conversation is not the small talk of gossip 
but the enlivening talk of mutual suggestiveness 
and good cheer. It is the kind of talk that comes 
spontaneously out of a full mind and a kindly 
heart, and brings joy and gladness. In true con- 
versation there is a healthy give and take, and the 
process is exhilarating and enjoyable. Such talk- 
ability is altogether unlike what Henry VanDyke 
calls *^the vice of talkativeness," which is ^^a sel- 
fish, one-sided, inharmonious affair, full of dis- 
comfort and productive of most un-Christian 
feelings." What makes the correspondence be- 
tween souls so attractive is the fact that the talk 
has to do with personal experiences in all their 
varied grades and stages. But it is not merely 
the retailing of personal items that gives spice to 
conversation. There must be facts of interest, 
bits of news that give cheer, thoughts that kindle 
the emotions and stir the affections. In this way 



Religious Conversation 71 

the finest virtues of companionship are cultivated 
and fellowship widened. 

All these qualities which make general conver- 
sation attractive must also appear in religious 
conversation. You cannot interest others in what 
you are not interested yourself. It is impossible 
to share in the gifts and graces of religious ex- 
perience when one has it in doubtful or limited 
measure. Topics which are threadbare are as 
stale and distasteful as stories which are known 
as '^chestnuts." There must be freshness and 
directness, reality and genuineness, warmth and 
welcome, heartiness and happiness, glow and 
gladness, cheer and charm. 

" We share our mutual woes, 
Our mutual burdens bear; 
And often for each other flows 
The sympathising tear." 

But how can we act in this fraternal manner 
if we are not familiar with each other's circum- 
stances? Such knowledge is invariably obtained 
through conversation. It was to encourage this 
practice that the class meeting was organised by 
Wesley. Those who desired to speak often one to 
another came together in an informal way. They 
were accustomed to meet ^4n kitchen, or drawing 
room, hay-loft, coal pit or barn"; and the results 
more than justified its existence. The class meet- 
ing often became the germ-cell of new Methodist 
societies, and through it the principle of com- 



72 Essentials of Evangelism 

munion found exquisite expression. Mr. Eayrs 
in '*A New History of Methodism/' succinctly 
describes the characteristics of the class meeting, 
which I gladly quote because it aptly sets forth 
some of the necessary features which make re- 
ligious conversation so wholesome and fragrant. 
^*It was marked as non-sacerdotal, since in these 
gatherings for fellowship ordained and unor- 
dained persons dealt freely with the mysteries of 
the spiritual life; as experimental and practical 
rather than doctrinaire and controversial, for here 
everything was brought to the test of common ex- 
perience; as ethical as well as emotional, for the 
members knew the conduct of one another and all 
combined to sustain each in such behaviour as 
became the gospel and Methodism; as social and 
gladsome with holy song, rather than self-cen- 
tred, cloistered and sombre; as free from state 
aid and control, as it was sustained by the regular 
freewill offerings of those who voluntarily ac- 
cepted its ministrations'' (Vol. I. 289). Say 
what we will, the warmth of temperament which 
has been the glory of Methodism can be explained 
by the influence of the class meeting, which drew 
the members into closer bonds of unity and fra- 
ternity, and was ^^an objective visualisation of the 
principle of communion as Christendom had never 
before seen." American Methodism has prac- 
tically given up this distinctive institution, on the 
plea that it had outgrown its usefulness. An at- 



Religious Conversation 73 

tempt should rather have been made to adjust 
it to modern needs in harmony with a growing 
Christian experience. But having let it go, noth- 
ing else has taken its place as an agency for the 
development of free and ready religious speech, 
concerning the things that are near and dear to 
life. 

So many Christian people surround themselves 
by inaccessible walls of exclusiveness and they 
remain silent touching the deep interests of life. 
Such a spirit of reserve and restraint is most 
unhealthy. They are sociable enough in a general 
way but the barriers go up as soon as serious 
issues are introduced. We have become so afraid 
of cant and hypocrisy that there is a sentimental 
sensitiveness about giving oral expression to our 
religious feelings and desires. The well from 
which water is not drawn ceases to be sweet and 
refreshing. In like manner, if we fail to draw 
from the wells of religious emotion, we had better 
close them up for the sake of the health of the 
community. Of all tragic cases are those Chris- 
tians who illustrate the ^^law of arrested develop- 
menf Let us recognise the causes of our dis- 
tress and honestly remove them. One of these is 
the lack of ^* seasoned conversation'' and ^^ seized 
conversation.'' As we practise this manner of 
communing, it will be said of us what the 
prophet wrote of the pious at a time of depres- 
sion: ^^They that feared the Lord spake one with 



74 Essentials of Evangelism 

another, and the Lord hearkened and heard/ ^ 
These faithful souls were confronted by a truly 
dark situation — the priests had become careless, 
the people were lax in their religious duties, the 
value of the worship and service of God was ques- 
tioned. But these select spirits knew better, and 
they were determined not to surrender to harsh 
circumstances nor to severe criticisms. They 
thus conversed often with each other, not about 
their difficulties but rather about their deliver- 
ances, so graciously granted them by the blessed 
God. There was no pessimistic strain which is 
not unusual in the modern prayer meeting. There 
was no tirade nor attack of those who were absent. 
They met not to tear down each other's faith or 
to weaken fidelity but to inspirit and encourage 
one another in every good word and work. They 
were persuaded that this could be done through 
optimistic confession of the graciousness, tender- 
ness and redeeming love of God. ^*A friendly 
thought,'' said Carlyle, ^^is the purest gift that 
man can afford to man." Where can we obtain 
this to such great advantage as by rightly directed 
religious conversation? On this subject, Bunyan 
has an enlightening word in his ^^ Grace Abound- 
ing to the Chief of Sinners." ^^Upon a day the 
good providence of God called me to Bedford, to 
work at my calling; and in one of the streets of 
that town I came where there were three or four 
poor women sitting at a door, in the sun, talking 



Religious Conversation 75 

about the things of God; and being now willing 
to hear their discourse, I drew near to hear what 
they said ; for I was now a brisk talker in matters 
of religion, but they were far above my reach. 
Their talk was about a new birth, the work of God 
in their hearts, as also how they were convinced of 
their miserable state by nature : they talked how 
God had visited their souls with his love in the 
Lord Jesus, and with what words and promises 
they had been refreshed, comforted and supported 
against the temptations of the devil: moreover, 
they reasoned of the suggestions and temptations 
of Satan in particular ; and told to each other by 
what means they had been afflicted ; and how they 
were borne up under his assaults. They also dis- 
coursed of their own wretchedness of heart, and 
of their unbelief, and did condemn, slight and 
abhor their own righteousness as filthy and insuf- 
ficient to do them any good. And methought they 
spake as if joy did make) them speak, with such 
pleasantness of Scripture language, and with such 
appearance of grace in all they said, that they 
were to me as if they had found a new world — as 
if they were people that dwelt alone, and were not 
to be reckoned among their neighbours. ' ' Notice 
the spirit of faith, humility and joy in the conver- 
sation of these pious women, and how it affected 
Bunyan who was a stranger to their blessed ex- 
perience. These features are not common or 
characteristic of much of our modern Christian 



76 Essentials of Evangelism 

experience. Consider the note of joy more par- 
ticularly. We may use the triumph song but 
there is little of the triumph spirit when we sing. 
As long as valiant souls could come together for 
mutual uplift, they need find no cause for com- 
plaint but many reasons for gratulation as they 
celebrate the divine mercies which are new every 
morning. However untoward may be their lot in 
life they are not exiles from God. Such kindred 
souls breathe the atmosphere of mutual under- 
standing and find solace in each other's fellowship. 
They thus become equipped for the struggles, the 
perils, the obstructions, the disappointments and 
the mishaps which inevitably come to every life. 
Their conversation was moreover so healthy be- 
cause they did not evade the pressing issues but 
dealt with essential facts and kept back nothing 
for fear of being censured. They did not hold off 
at arm's length in suspicion, but spoke in trustful- 
ness and considered how they might stir up each 
other to love and good works. They did not keep 
their hearts under lock and key and steel them- 
selves against the approach of friendship ; nor on 
the other hand did they wear their heart on their 
sleeve and let every chance acquaintance into its 
sanctities, which are open only to the initiated. 
Thus they talked freely, fearlessly and fraternally 
with those who were of one accord. It was done 
in the name of Christian friendship and for the 
sake of Christian fellowship, and they had no 



Religious Conversation 77 

reason to regret their congenial associations. 
They therefore found the promise repeatedly ful- 
filled : ' ' Where two or three are gathered together 
in my name, there am I in the midst of them/' It 
was the realised presence of Jesus Christ that 
gave the tonic air which braced them up for what- 
ever storm or stress awaited them. Ordinary 
men thus acted with heroic consecration to duty 
and were courageously calm and self-possessed in 
the face of defeat or danger. They knew that 
they had a better possession and an abiding one 
and they held to this confidence which had great 
recompense of reward. It was not surprising that 
thereby they brought cheer to each other, since 
they were refreshed and strengthened and made 
glad in the hour of felicity no less than in the 
hour of adversity. Well might they rejoice as 
they sang: 

"My Saviour comes and walks with me, 
And sweet communion here have we; 
He gently leads me by the hand. 
For this is heaven's border land." 

Viewed at its best, the atmosphere of the world 
is inhospitable to spiritual ideas and ideals. 
There is much that is depressing and demoralis- 
ing and which offers anything but the stimulus 
that is so needed, especially in these times of up- 
heaval, uncertainty and disaster. ^^ Taken all in 
all, where," asks Sabatier in ^^ Religions of 
Authority and the Religion of the Spirit/' ^* shall 



78 Essentials of Evangelism 

we find a higher or more universal school of re- 
spect and virtue than in the church, a more effica- 
cious means of comfort and consolation than the 
communion of brethren, a safer tutelary shelter 
for souls still in their minority/' Professor 
McGiff ert recently said : ' ' The church is an engine 
of untold moral and spiritual power.'' One way 
by which it can be brought into active exercise is 
by the culture of religious conversation. ^^This 
is a difficult art," writes Professor Stalker in 
^' Imago Christi." ^^It must be natural — it must 
well up out of a heart full of religion — or it is 
worse than useless. Yet it is of priceless value, 
and no trouble is too great to be spent in acquir- 
ing it. I am not sure but we are more in need 
of those who can talk about religion than of those 
who can preach about it. ' ' Here then is our great 
opportunity for effective evangelism. So many 
are afflicted with anxiety, dismayed by doubt, 
troubled by perplexity, confused by misunder- 
standing, misled by false teaching. Seek them 
and win their confidence and lead them to the 
fountains of living water. 

" I love to tell the story ; 

More wonderful it seems 
Than all the golden fancies 

Of all our golden dreams. 
I love to tell the story, 

It did so much for me; 
And that is just the reason 

I tell it now to thee/' 



CHAPTER SEVEN 

THE PEESONAL TOUCH 

THIS is the day of highly perfected machin- 
ery when the factories produce articles in 
large abundance. And yet we must ac- 
knowledge the superiority of hand-carved furni- 
ture, hand-made lace and hand-painted pictures. 
Who prefers the reproduction of the phonograph 
to the skilful playing of the pianist or violinist? 
We admire the splendid building, so imposing and 
architecturally perfect; and yet the mason has 
handled each brick separately with trowel and 
cement ; the carpenter has driven each single nail 
and riveted it in place; the plumber has looked 
after every screw and joint in the extensive heat- 
ing plant; the electrician has cared for each 
lamp, and all the others who have worked in and 
around the building have given personal super- 
vision to their tasks. Unless each screw is true 
and every bolt is strong, the monster airplane 
must fatally fail. Everyone thus recognises the 
dignity of trifles and reckons with them at the 
cost of time and labour. We talk of people in the 
mass, collectively and generalisingly. Jesus al- 
ways talked of the individual specifically, and 
never failed to deal with each person on his own 

79 



8o Essentials of Evangelism 

merits. *^The Son of man came to seek and to 
save the lost/' and he sought them each one at a 
time. He avoided the crowds that he might do 
intensive work with the individual. He thus gave 
his best to Nicodemus and to Zaccheus, to the 
Samaritan woman and to Mary Magdalene. That 
was his consistent policy. Although after his 
resurrection he appeared to his disciples when 
they were gathered together, he also had heart- 
to-heart communings with Peter and Mary and 
James and others of his followers. 

The importance of the individual is to-day 
accepted in strategic connections. The politician 
does not forget the value of the single vote at 
election time, even though he may ignore it the 
rest of the year. The effective speaker does not 
address his entire audience but singles out an 
individual here and there, and appeals to them 
in a sort of exclusive way and so wins the atten- 
tion and accord of the rest of his hearers. Vast 
sums of money are spent on advertising and yet 
eighty per cent of the successful business is 
done by personal solicitation. Salesmanship is 
a science, nay it is an art, even the art of per- 
suasion. Much of its efficient working depends 
on the pleasing personality of the solicitor, his 
knowledge of the goods and of the needs of the 
prospective buyer. All this emphasises the 
significance of the personal equation. It is also 
necessary that we know how to discriminate be- 



The Personal Touch 8l 

cause people are so widely and radically differ- 
ent, and what appeals to one may by reason 
of temperament and associations fall flat on 
another. The wife of Sir Edward Burne-Jones 
once wrote of her husband: ^^As a rule Edward 
was a little irritated by people finding likenesses 
in one face to another. ^It is difference not like- 
ness that I see/ he would say.'' All students of 
human life will endorse this sentiment, for they 
understand and appreciate ^^the sacredness of 
personality.'' 

Consider how the church began. When An- 
drew and John were won by Jesus on that memo- 
rable night, they returned to their homes with the 
determination to convey to others their convic- 
tions concerning Christ the Messiah. Andrew 
then brought his brother Peter to Jesus, and 
John his brother James. Peter next led Philip 
to the Master, and Philip in turn guided 
Nathaniel to him. From that time on, through 
the Christian centuries, the gospel has spread 
through personal efforts. It has often happened 
that obscure men have brought to Jesus those 
who became distinguished, and whose remark- 
able achievements reacted gratifyingly on their 
little known leaders. Think of Joel Stratton and 
John Gough, George Warner and Gypsy Smith, 
Edward Kimball and Dwight L. Moody, Harry 
Monroe and Billy Sunday. As forcibly illustrat- 
ing a chain of influences there is the case of Ed- 



82 Essentials of Evangelism 

ward E. Graves, the commercial traveller, who 
won S. M. Sayf ord, who then won C. K. Ober, who 
in turn won John R. Mott, for Christ and his 
cause. We never know what harvest will come 
from the seed faithfully sown. It is the personal 
touch that transmits the power of the evangel. 
Much misunderstanding and enmity must be re- 
moved before the right atmosphere can be created, 
in which people will come with the request : ' ' Sirs, 
we would see Jesus.'' Many people have curious 
notions concerning the church ; they think of it as 
an institution apart from life and out of sympathy 
with the struggles of ordinary folk. If these out- 
siders are to be brought into right relationships, 
it will be due to work done quietly, patiently, 
persistently, generously by men and women, who 
are followers of Christ and members of the church. 
It may sound trite and commonplace to say that 
we must have the experience of Christ's saving 
grace and be quickened by it to the white heat of 
enthusiasm before we can go out to speak to others 
of the Saviour's redeeming love. But let the 
statement stand, for it is the indispensable con- 
dition of spreading the gospel of salvation. Our 
goodness must have edge to it, if it is to quicken 
others. Our experience must be vivid, if it is to 
vitalise others. Our convictions must be decided, 
if they are to persuade others. Our efforts must 
be whole-hearted, if they are to affect others. In 
his great book, ^^The Meaning of God in Human 



The Personal Touch 83 

Experience," Doctor W. E. Hocking, says: ^'We 
know religion when we meet it in persons. We 
are in no need of definition to guide our eyes, or 
to help in identifying it. We are perpetually see- 
ing its fruits, or missing them, in our neighbours. 
We are sensitive even to its shades and degrees ; 
aware of its more or less, its depth, its texture, its 
resistance." Again he says: ^^To see the signifi- 
cance of things trivial is the prerogative of great- 
ness, to see everything as bearing upon the whole 
is both genius and happiness, to see all things 
sub specie aeternitatis is the joy of religion 
itself." If there is love in the heart, it will then 
set you on fire to become an ardent helper of peo- 
ple, in everything that enables them to have an 
adequate share of ^^the leisure and pleasure and 
treasure of life." 

The familiar story of Philip and the Ethiopian 
eunuch illustrates some of the indispensable quali- 
fications of successful personal work. Philip was 
chosen at the same time as Stephen, to attend 
to the temporal matters of the church. But it is 
very significant that we know hardly anything of 
their financial and administrative abilities. We 
know more of their spiritual labours. Stephen 
was the first martyr, impressive in speech and 
forcible in persuasion. Philip was an evangelist 
who led in the notable revival in Samaria. They 
were both men ^^of good report, full of the Spirit 
and of wisdom. ' ' The Christian must have a good 



84 Essentials of Evangelism 

reputation and be honourable in all his trans- 
actions, so that the finger of scorn and contempt 
cannot be pointed at him. He must be consistent 
so that his Christian profession will be manifest 
in his business, not only by what he says but also 
by what he does. Every Christian is an anti- 
septic — the salt of the earth — and no corruption 
should be tolerated in his company, whether it is 
the sinister speech or the crooked deal. Philip 
furthermore was a man of faith. When he heard 
the voice commanding him to go to the desert, he 
obeyed, nothing doubting. It meant much for 
him to leave the revival activities at Samaria, and 
go to the lonely outskirts of the desert ; but he was 
persuaded that it was a direction of God and not 
a delusion of the devil. As the chariot ap- 
proached, he listened to the eunuch reading from 
the prophet Isaiah, and with exquisite tact he ap- 
proached this eminent prince of Ethiopia, and 
obtained his consent to act as his interpreter of 
the prophet ^s utterances concerning the suffering 
Messiah. Philip was in such harmony with the 
divine Spirit, that he was able intuitively to un- 
derstand this man's needs. He was also in sym- 
pathy with the eunuch and showed patient frank- 
ness as he led this seeker, step by step, to Jesus 
Christ. 

Many objections which are raised against per- 
sonal work are purely theoretical. They are 
generally offered by those who have neither a cor- 



The Personal Touch 85 

rect idea of the purpose of the gospel nor a clear 
experience of its power in their own lives. I do 
not mean to say that you will be received with a 
welcome in every case, as was the happy experi- 
ence of Philip with the eunuch. You may even 
be insulted; but if you have the sweetness and 
sanity of Jesus, you will know how to take these 
slights ; and instead of being readily discouraged, 
you will be spurred to continue and increase in the 
good work. If repelled and turned down by one, 
you may be welcomed by another. Be frank and 
faithful, be true and tactful, be earnest and en- 
lightening, be friendly and interesting, and you 
will surely have the joy of winning people, one by 
one, for Christ and the kingdom of God. The 
story of the mission field is one continued illus- 
tration of the indispensable value of the personal 
touch in inducing non-Christians to consider and 
accept the claims of Christ. ' ' The Life of Henry 
Drummond,'' by George Adam Smith has several 
chapters, showing the unique qualities of Drum- 
mond in dealing with enquirers, not only in con- 
nection with the great mission of Moody but also 
in his own work among college men. Principal 
Smith writes: ^^He [Drummond] worked hard 
in the inquiry rooms, but shy men, who would not 
stand up in a meeting, nor enter an inquiry room, 
waited for him by the doors as he came out, or 
waylaid him in the street, or wrote, asking him 
for an interview. He took great trouble with 



86 Essentials of Evangelism 

every one of them, as much trouble and interest 
as if each was a large meeting.'' On a man being 
asked what led him to decide for Christ, he re- 
plied, ^^It was the way Mr. Drummond laid his 
hand on my shoulder and looked me in the face 
that led me to Christ." This testimony throws 
much light on what Drummond wrote in his essay 
on '^Spiritual Diagnosis." He pointed out that 
the Puritan writers were skilled analysists of 
human nature but that, ^'they seem to have ap- 
plied their power more in the pulpit than the pew. 
They knew so much about humanity that they had 
lost what of it they had themselves in the pursuit 
of it in others. They were most of them wanting 
in that delicacy of handling which makes analysis 
effective instead of insulting; and many of the 
Puritans were quite destitute of the foremost 
quality which distinguishes the successful diag- 
nosist — respect, veneration even, for the soul of 
another. A man may be ever so gross and vulgar, 
but when you come to deal with the deepest that 
is in him, he becomes sensitive and feminine. 
Brusqueness and an impolite familiarity may do 
very well when dealing with his brains, but 
without tenderness and courtesy you can only 
approach his heart to shock it. The whole of 
etiquette is founded on respect; and by far the 
highest and tenderest etiquette is the etiquette of 
soul and soul." 

The joy of personal work, only they know who 



The Personal Touch 87 

have served in it. It was said of Father Stanton 
of St. Alban's, London, that individual work lay- 
nearest to his hand and his heart, and that, ^^he 
excelled in personal ministration to individual 
souls, and especially to the souls of men." The 
testimonial which was presented to him, signed by 
over three thousand six hundred men, contained 
this striking sentence: ^^It has been not only 
the charm of your speech which has drawn us to 
you, but, what is of course of far higher value — 
the depth of reality of your religious teaching, 
your devotion to the Lord Jesus Christ, and your 
conspicuous ability to enter with sympathy into 
our thoughts and needs, and into all that which at 
this time makes faith and life difficult for men.'' 
Sympathy means insight and understanding of 
human needs. How divers these are ! Each in- 
dividual case must be studied separately and inde- 
pendently, with a view to finding out the tempera- 
ment, habits, preferences and aptitudes of each 
one. The way to one will be prepared by a 
letter, to another by making a special appoint- 
ment, to yet another by invitation to a meal or to 
a religious service. In these ways the point of 
contact is secured. All this means energy, toil 
and sacrifice ; but surely it is worth while to have 
the privilege of witnessing the coming of the light 
of heaven into a soul and the expression of glow 
upon the countenance. 

^^The greatest obstacle to the progress of the 



88 Essentials of Evangelism 

chariot wheels of the kingdom of God is the abso- 
lute indifference of the majority of the people in 
the churches.'^ This from E. J. Patterson in 
his book, ^^The Happy Art of Catching Men/' 
which is a thrilling record of work for temperance 
and clean manhood, applies to more than one form 
of Christian work. It is not an exaggerated 
statement when placed by the side of the reports 
of the Men and Religion Forward Movement, 
held a few years ago. Here are a few sentences 
that we do well to ponder. ^^We could save every 
individual in this land for Christ in two years' 
time if each of us would win but one a year. The 
number of church members who engage in Chris- 
tian work of any kind is deplorably small.'' The 
summons is clear and imperative, and the call is 
loud and insistent for volunteer workers, who will 
give a sacrificial service and say, as did the Master 
of us all, '^for their sakes I sanctify myself." 
All through the history of the church, the profit- 
able contributions have come not from the wealthy 
few but from the many poor, whose gifts consisted 
not only of money but first of their own selves. 
Effective evangelism is individual evangelism, and 
as we realise the bigness of the issue, we shall see 
that ^ individual effort is imperative if collective 
success is to be obtained." 

There are two words in the gospels which must 
be emphasised and reiterated. The first word is 
*^Come," and find rest unto your souls. The 



The Personal Touch 89 

second word is ^ ^ Go, ' ^ and disciple others, so that 
they also may obtain this rest. ^^Come'' is an 
invitation in the name of the gospel of blessed 
redemption. ^^Go" is a command for the sake 
of this same gospel, which offers its benefits to 
everyone, that all may find and receive the love 
and joy of God unto everlasting life. It has in 
mind the reconstruction of the life of the indi- 
vidual and also that of society, in accord with the 
principles and the spirit of Jesus. Where such 
an ideal and inspiration are in control, there will 
be produced a better type of nationalism and in- 
ternationalism in all their many-sided bearings 
on education, commerce, and the general welfare 
of the whole race. Truly, ^^how great a forest 
is kindled by how small a fire !'' 

" Go, labour on ; spend and be spent, 
Thy joy to do the Father's will; 
It is the way the Master went; 
Should not the servant tread it still?" 



CHAPTER EIGHT 



*^ALL AT IT AND ALWAYS AT IT.'^ 



THERE are two conceptions of the church. 
One regards it as an institution for its own 
members, a sort of a family institution. 
If it cares for its own and pays its bills and re- 
sponds to sundry appeals for charity, it has done 
everything that might be expected of it. This 
form of self-respect and respectability is no doubt 
virtuous but it is inadequate. A church is ex- 
pected to do much more than the fraternal orders, 
which at best are benevolent clubs. The other 
conception of the church is more in harmony with 
the spirit of Jesus, who taught that his followers 
should regard themselves as banded together for 
the benefit of the community in which they live, 
and also not forget their obligations to the large 
world, which is without God and without hope. 
This idea implies an excess of strength over and 
above what is needed for home consumption. It 
is true that charity begins at home, but it must 
not remain there. The church is a society of 
those who love Jesus Christ and are indebted to 
him for salvation. Its members regard them- 
selves as a redeemed people, with the redemptive 
and evangelistic passion, impelling them to en- 

90 



''All at It and Alu^ays at It" 91 

gage in the work of making God real, and of 
giving the spiritual life the place of primacy in 
individual and social relationships. 

When Jethro the priest of Midian visited Moses, 
the leader of the Exodus rehearsed to his father- 
in-law the wonderful works of Jehovah, wrought 
on behalf of the Israelites. The past was glo- 
rious with acts of redemption ; but the future was 
going to be still more glorious. And so he in- 
vited Jethro to identify himself with this promis- 
ing movement, saying to him: ^^Come thou with 
us and we will do thee good. ' ' When he hesitated, 
Moses appealed to him and said that if he did not 
care to enlist for his own sake, let him do it for 
Israel's sake. This won him. Can the church 
use this twofold appeal to-day? Most assuredly 
it can. Its record on the whole has been satis- 
factory throughout the centuries, but the work 
that it must undertake during the coming days is 
to be far greater, out of all proportion to anything 
that has been attempted and achieved since the 
day of Pentecost. And it needs strong characters 
to advance its interests. In what ways is the 
church to do good? By giving a sense of the 
reality of God, by making clear the spiritual values 
of life, by imparting courage in the face of heavy 
and depressing duties, by offering sympathy and 
support in a spirit of friendship. All who enter 
within its sacred circle should at once know 
that here is a company of men and women, whose 



92 Essentials of Evangelism 

controlling purpose in life is to make their church 
a minister of grace, a distributor of kindness, a 
companion of the discouraged, an inspirer of the 
weak, a guide to the Saviour, and a never-failing 
refuge to all who desire God and redemption. 
Whether the promise of doing good is a matter 
of words and phrases, or whether it is a matter of 
deeds can soon be discovered by those who accept 
the invitation and enter within the portals of the 
church. If the church fails here, it is of doubtful 
advantage, whatever else it may do incidentally 
or in eleemosynary ways. The reason for this 
lies in the undisputed fact that the very genius 
of Christianity compels its adherents to become 
missionaries, and to witness to its benefits by word 
and deed. The gospel is essentially social and 
the spirit of obligation is one of its cardinal fea- 
tures. This truth has lately found convincing 
expression in the phrase '^social evangelism,'' 
which addresses itself to the business, not of sav- 
ing an occasional brand from the burning, but of 
transforming all the conditions which affect char- 
acter and of helping in its freer and fuller de- 
velopment. 

Christianity operates as the law of love, and 
the church is its living exponent. It enlists the 
services of every member by the constraint of 
this penetrating principle and lays upon each one 
the unescapable responsibility to be influenced by 
it and to commend it in most favourable ways to 



^^All at It and Always at It'' 93 

every person. John Wesley's phrase, ^'AU at it, 
and always at it,'' sententiously expresses a vital 
truth. We believe in the priesthood of all be- 
lievers. There is a difference between clergy and 
laity only as to function. Every Christian has 
free access to the mercy-seat in the name of the 
great Mediator. Every Christian moreover can 
act as a priest to lead men to God. Thus John 
Nelson, mason and soldier, and John Hunt, plough- 
boy, were as much the priests of God as John 
Wesley. Saul of Tarsus enjoyed the priestly help 
of Ananias, Luther received that of Staupitz, 
Alexander Maclaren that of Benjamin Gregory, 
Moody that of his Sunday school teacher. This 
is a privilege within the reach of every Chris- 
tian who should take advantage of it without pro- 
fessionalism or officialism, but in a kindly, cheer- 
ful and natural manner. We can readily imagine 
the power of a church whose membership is dis- 
tinguished by such Christian calibre and char- 
acter. 

The question of spiritual atmosphere is mo- 
mentous. Just as atmosphere is all-important in 
the world of nature and without it the farmer 
must plough in vain, and sow his seed for naught, 
so also the vital glow of spiritual atmosphere is 
indispensable in the church, and nothing else can 
take its place. Now, atmosphere is a matter of 
personality. It is created by men and women, 
who realise that, in Christ, they are members one 



94 Essentials of Evangelism 

of another. People are at times heard to say 
that they are unable to go to church, as long as a 
particular person attends. We may resent this 
as an excuse or a presumptuous criticism, and tell 
the objectors that the presence of the persons to 
whom they take exception should not interfere 
with their enjoyment of the worship of God. But 
that does not remove the unfortunate situation. 
Worship is a social exercise and it thrives only in 
a warm atmosphere. The person criticised, if 
deserving of it, lowers the spiritual temperature, 
and in his company a disagreeable feeling creeps 
over one, like the slimy feeling that you have on 
a damp, dull day, with the chills running up and 
down your back. Just as you do not expect peo- 
ple in winter to come to church and be comfortable 
in a building that is not heated, so you must not 
expect people, especially outsiders, to attend 
church under circumstances which are both un- 
desirable and intolerable. 

The church must be the heartiest, the friend- 
liest, the happiest place in the community. 
Friendship is what the world most needs, more 
especially in these days when hearts are being 
tried, when the vision is clouded, when a sense of 
loss and bereavement is common, when a spirit 
of foreboding meets us on every hand. Since the 
church is a brotherhood, the members are bound 
to one another by family ties. In the first epistle 
to the Thessalonians, which is the earliest New 



''All at It and Always at It'' 95 

Testament writing, we read that as soon as the 
people in this city became Christian believers, 
their relations to one another underwent a radi- 
cal change; and this fact is assumed in the way 
the apostle addresses them. ^^ Concerning love 
of the brethren ye have no need that one write 
unto you; for indeed ye do it toward all the 
brethren." Peter exhorts in his first epistle: 
^^Be ye all likeminded, compassionate, loving as 
brethren, tender-hearted, humble-minded. ' ' John 
is very decided in his first epistle: ^^We know 
that we have passed out of death into life, because 
we love the brethren." ^^If any man say, I love 
God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he 
that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, 
cannot love God whom he hath not seen." All 
these counsels are reflections of the teaching and 
practice of Jesus. In the upper room, among his 
parting words to them were these : ^^ A new com- 
mandment I give unto you, that ye love one an- 
other ; even as I have loved you, that ye also love 
one another. By this shall all men know that ye 
are my disciples, if ye have love one to another." 
The reason why this spirit of love is so repeatedly 
exalted is because its practice is difiicult and also 
distinctive of the true Christian. This is the 
secret of genuine fellowship, when souls hold com- 
merce with each other and find both pleasure and 
profit in one another's company. How is it in 
actual life? Here is a testimony from a represen- 



96 Essentials of Evangelism 

tative minister : ' ' Many city churches are made 
up of people who do not even know one another, 
and who do not even want to know one another. 
Too many village churches are composed of people 
who know one another, and are sorry that they do. 
The weakness of the modern church lies in its 
dwarfed affections. The shame of present-day 
Christianity is its stunted sympathies. The church 
is rich in money, ideas, apparatus, numbers, but 
poor in love.'' From Doctor C. E. Jefferson in 
his volume, ^^The Building of the Church," let 
us turn to a representative layman, G. W. Pepper, 
in his Yale Lectures, ^^A Voice from the Crowd.'' 
He writes : ' ' The man in the pulpit may do much 
to hasten a revival of the spirit of democracy 
within the church by reiterating our Lord's plain 
teachings upon this subject. But after all it rests 
with the man in the pew to eliminate snobbishness 
from congregational life and to make democracy 
once more a test of discipleship. " A writer in a 
recent issue of ^^The Hibbert Journal" refers to 
conditions in Great Britain which are not unlike 
those in the United States. ^^Few of us, whether 
in church or chapel, are prepared to-day for the 
invasion of our churches by the 'poor' in any 
temper of mind. If they were animated by the 
inward urge of fresh energy and responsibility 
for the common good, would not such an invasion 
be even more appalling to us? Our churches 
stand very empty, but that is not our greatest mis- 



*'All at It and Always at It '' 97 

fortune. It is that so many who are in them are 
keen to cry to the poor that they must not seek 
to better their conditions, that 'the kingdom of 
God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness 
and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost/ while they 
eat and drink to their fill of the best every day, 
not only material food, but of the feast of beauty 
and of knowledge, and of all worldly delight, and 
will not face the fact that half the brethren of 
their own nation — the brethren for whom Christ 
died — are destroyed by their meat/' The prac- 
tice of hospitality is fast getting to be one of the 
lost arts of the church. This may be partly due 
to our manner of living in flats and apartments, 
which do not permit the social amenities of life. 
A more vital reason is that the right temper is 
absent. We do w^ell to heed the counsel of the 
writer of the epistle to the Hebrews: ^' Never 
forget to be hospitable, for by hospitality some 
have entertained angels unawares.'' Such a 
spirit is to be shown in our homes and in our 
churches with sanguine cordiality, and the proba- 
*bilities are that w^e shall have experiences similar 
to that suggested by the sacred author. A failure 
of these winsome graces must of necessity compel 
the church to limp along under the severest 
limitations. 

Our first business then is to Christianise the 
church, and make it more Christlike. A revival 
of the elemental virtues of the Christ life are im- 



98 Essentials of Evangelism 

peratively desired. This would be the best sort 
of advertisement that a church can possibly have 
in a community. It is a farce to have the words, 
^^ Friendly Church,'^ printed on the bulletin board 
outside, unless the reality is exemplified by those 
inside. One test of a church's usefulness is that 
of the opinion of the community concerning it. 
What do the non-church goers think of us? Or 
have we become such a negligible quantity that 
they do not think of us at all? Assuredly in 
every church there are faithful souls ; but our pur- 
pose must be to increase this number and 
strengthen the leaven of loving-kindness. This 
work summons our best powers, to which every- 
one should consecrate ability and time. The 
smug self-satisfaction of the average church- 
member is pathetic. Not many have really 
grasped the meaning of discipleship, which means 
to take up the cross daily and to follow Christ. 
Most of them think that they have discharged 
their obligations when they attend the church ser- 
vice, provided nothing else interferes, and when 
they contribute to the support of the work, ac- 
cording to their inclinations. Bishop McDowell, 
in his Yale Lectures, ^^Good Ministers of Jesus 
Christ," laid bare the cause of our present malady 
in two forceful sentences. '^The churches in any 
town are marked by the calmness, the self-re- 
straint, the ordinariness of their consecration, the 
humdrum of their life, the lack of daring and 



''All at It and Always at It" 99 

heroism in their adventure, and the occasionalness 
and conservatism of their positive devotion. One 
does not like to speak of the vast and paralysing 
unconsciousness of Jesus the Redeemer and Lord 
of life which pervades the churches that bear his 
name, the unconsciousness of him which permits 
people to go on day by day as if he were not." 
Let the faithful rouse themselves to a sense of 
their exacting responsibility and take no rest from 
prayer and from toil, until the church shall always 
and everywhere do the work of evangelism. 

It is acknowledged by everyone that the minis- 
ter must be a pastor and keep in close touch with 
his people and be quickly at their side in times of 
trouble. Doctor R. F. Horton in his moving 
^^Autobiography,'' refers to this part of minister- 
ial work in most impressive terms. ' ' Often I have 
visited for four or five hours at a time, until I 
was quite spent, and my tongue could do no more. 
For twenty years I have kept up this practice. 
... For some unexplained reason this part of a 
minister 's work is always laborious and uncongen- 
ial, and a thousand excuses are at hand for sur- 
rendering it. But facing it invitd Minerva, week 
by week for many years, I have come to regard it 
as the indispensable function of successful church 
work." But there is another side to this ques- 
tion which must be reckoned with in order that 
success may be complete. Pastoral work must 
also be undertaken by the members of the church, 



lOO Essentials of Evangelism 

and visits made in the homes, not only of those 
who are congenial, but also of those who are not 
quite so agreeable. If preachers find it to be 
arduous, the laity will not find it to be different, 
but it is the khid of work that is worthwhile and 
which has rich compensations. ^^If ye love them 
that love you, what reward have ye? do not even 
the publicans the same?^' As Christians, it is 
our privilege to love the unlovely, and to do good 
to both the just and the unjust, for we pattern 
our lives after the higher standards of our 
Heavenly Father. Think of some of the benefits 
from such work. Some have got out of the way 
of coming to church. An informal visit from one 
or two church members will at least get them to 
feel that they are not forgotten, and it may rouse 
them to a sense of their negligence and win them 
back. Others are sick or in difficulty of one sort 
or another. It is expected that the minister will 
visit them, but it is not supposed that anyone 
else will do so. All the more reason why a call 
of sympathy and friendship will be welcome. 
Some feel that they are slighted or that they are 
not wanted, and that nobody cares for them, be- 
cause perchance they are poor and cannot give 
much. Naturally they are sensitive and need at- 
tention. Then there are people who move from 
one town to another, who often lose interest in 
the church in their new place of residence. Their 
support might be enlisted by a friendly visit. Let 



''All at It and Always at It'' lOi 

the stranger be made welcome into our church 
home, not only when he happens to attend but 
before he does so and afterwards. What a won- 
derful uplift will come into the lives of these folk 
by the quiet and interested notice which they re- 
ceive. Be pleasant and do not act like Job's 
comforters. If you go to the sick, do not add to 
their troubles by discussing the ills of life and 
going into all manner of blood-curdling details. 
Always remember that you are a representative 
of Jesus Christ and his church. Have the evan- 
gelical temper and graces. Show the joy of the 
Christian life. 

What a fine opportunity will thus be given you 
to speak a word for the church and also put in a 
plea for the Saviour, as the occasion may suggest 
and your common-sense may direct. How often 
we hear it said that the only time church people 
make visits is when they want cake or cash ! This 
gives the impression that the church is a parasite 
living on others, when it really should be a friend 
living for others. In such a campaign of visita- 
tion it is generally best for two to go together, to 
guard against discouragements. This was the 
plan when the seventy were sent forth, and it had 
good results. In this way we can talk up the 
church, and it will become favourably known as 
friendly and sociable, made up of members who 
are actually interested in people for their own 
sake. Such a church can exercise an extensive 



I02 Essentials of Evangelism 

influence in the community. Its power will in- 
crease from more to more as its members are 
quickened by the fires of faith, the allegiance of 
loyalty and the enthusiasm of friendship, to min- 
ister to the needs of people. The demands for 
such service will multiply after the war, so that 
now is the time to get ready. 

" O Master, let me walk with thee 
In lowly paths of service free ; 
Teach me thy secret; let me bear 
The strain of toil, the fret of care. 

Help me the slow of heart to move 
By some clear, winning word of love; 
Teach me the wayward feet to stay, 
And guide them in the homeward way/* 



CHAPTER NINE 



THE NEEDED REVIVAL 



4 NY reference to revivals generally brings 
r\ to mind methods of appeal with their emo- 
tional accompaniments. We think of ex- 
citement and commotion and eager urgency, with 
exhibitions of hysteria, animated singing, vigor- 
ous exhortations, altar services, enquiry rooms, 
raising of hands for prayer, and other expressions 
which have been invariably associated with re- 
vival meetings. There also come to mind the in- 
evitable reactions, after the physical, mental and 
spiritual strain and the tragic lapses of those who 
made the profession but had not the stability for 
fidelity. Such a season of summer heat is accept- 
able to many, who prefer its continuance the year 
round. They forget that just as a single season 
is not good for the world of nature, so also it is 
unfavourable to growth in the spiritual world. 
They seem to be like Peter who desired to remain 
on the Mount of Transfiguration, not realising 
that that was a special experience to fit him and 
the other disciples, as well as the Master, for the 
difficult duties at the foot of the mountain. The 
temporary upheaval of a revival is necessary at 
different periods. The church has repeatedly 

103 



I04 Essentials of Evangelism 

fallen from the levels of spiritual experience and 
activity, which should be its normal condition. 
Such decadence and lethargy are due to many 
causes. Jesus anticipated these depressions, and 
earnestly called on his disciples to watch and pray, 
lest they yield to the temptations of ^Hhe world, 
the flesh and the devil.'' Failure to resist evil 
produces spiritual paralysis. Concentrated ef- 
forts must then be put forth to arrest the attention 
of people who have become religiously indifferent 
or have got into a rut, or are careless, that they 
might turn their thoughts towards a godly man- 
ner, living worthy of the gospel of redemption. 
The influence of such revival activities is on 
record. In the eighteenth century. New England 
was the scene of a remarkable movement under 
the quiet but intense preaching of Jonathan 
Edwards, when vast multitudes were stirred and 
quickened and turned to God for mercy. So pro- 
found were the effects of this revival that the fire 
leaped across the ocean and roused Great Britain. 
John Wesley himself was deeply moved as he read 
the story of this extraordinary outburst of re- 
ligious fervour and zeal. The evangelical revival 
in England was another notable movement, which 
followed on the heels of the work inaugurated by 
the Wesleys, Whitefield and their colleagues. 
Another of the historic revivals was in Kentucky, 
which swept men of the vilest character into the 
kingdom of God and cleansed social conditions 



The Needed Revival 105 

which were like the Augean stables. Yet another 
of these ^^ times of refreshing" came with Moody 
and Sankey, who conducted great missions in the 
United States and Great Britain, leaving per- 
manent results, not only in quickened lives, but in 
institutions like the Northfield schools and sum- 
mer conferences, the Student Volunteer movement 
and other forms of Christian advance. There 
have been other revivals operating on a smaller 
scale, but their characteristics have been about the 
same as the wider-reaching manifestations of the 
divine Spirit. It is true that in many cases the 
appeal was to the emotions. The feelings of fear 
were roused by the emphatic declarations concern- 
ing death, judgment and punishment, and the in- 
sistent call to an immediate surrender to Christ, 
on peril of eternal disaster. The preaching of 
hell was not always of the gruesome type of 
Jonathan Edwards, although some modern evan- 
gelists would not hesitate to endorse the very 
words of the Northampton preacher: ^^The God 
that holds you over the pit of hell, much as one 
holds a spider or some loathsome insect over the 
fire abhors you. It is nothing but his hand that 
holds you from falling into the fire every moment ; 
it is to be ascribed to nothing else that you did 
not go to hell last night; and there is no other 
reason why you have not dropped into hell since 
you arose in the morning." It is a strange sort 
of Christian who would rejoice with Edwards, 



io6 Essentials of Evangelism 

who said: ^^The sight of hell torments will exalt 
the happiness of the saints for ever ; it will give 
them a more lively relish. ' ^ 

To speak of hypnotic suggestion is not to belittle 
the revival but rather to seek a clearer under- 
standing of it. Many have responded, under the 
spell of the atmosphere created by the revivalist, 
stirred by the decisions made, and the ecstatic 
jubilations of those who entered into peace 
and joy. The movement thereby gathered force 
by the multiplication of converts. In not a few 
cases, the physical excitement was neither ethical 
nor spiritual; and this explains why some lost 
their grip and fell into a worse state than they 
were before they came under the influence of the 
revival. What Principal George Adam Smith 
wrote of the work of Moody and Sankey, in his 
^^Life of Henry Drummond," applies equally well 
to other protracted meetings. ^^This mission 
lifted thousands and tens of thousands of persons 
already trained in religion to a more clear and 
decided consciousness of their Christianity. It 
baptised crowds in the Spirit of Jesus and opened 
the eyes of innumerable men and women to the 
reality of the great facts of repentance and con- 
version, to the possibility of self-control and of 
peace by God's Spirit. We have admired the 
organisation of its converts. The young men 
who came under its influence are now in middle 
life, and to-day one can point to ministers in many 



The Needed Revival 107 

churches, and to laymen in charge of the munici- 
pal and social interests of almost every town, 
who were first roused to faith and first enlisted in 
the cause of God and of their fellow-men by the 
evangelists of 1873-75. ' ' On the other hand, there 
were some undesirable features. '^The idealism 
of the movement, the emphasis which it laid on 
general principles and the speed with which mul- 
titudes were aroused to the conviction of these, 
conspired with the general excitement to destroy, 
in a certain class of minds, all sense for facts, and 
to corrupt their conscience for accuracy." One 
serious temptation of this sanguine evangelical- 
ism was ^ ' to ignore all religious experience which 
lay outside the definite theology of the movement, 
and a stubborn refusal to recognise the manifest 
fruits of God's Spirit apart from the formulas 
and processes by which its converts had arrived 
at the truth. . . . The Spirit of our God works 
among us in many other ways than by * revivals' 
and church services, and the evangelical move- 
ment which Messrs. Moody and Sankey did so 
much to reinforce has required every iota of the 
influence of science to teach it tolerance, accuracy 
and fearlessness of facts, and all the strength of 
the socialist movement to reawaken within it that 
sense of civic and economic duty by which the 
older evangelicalism of Wilberforce, Chalmers 
and Shaftesbury was so nobly distinguished." No 
one would call this an unfair criticism. 



io8 Essentials of Evangelism 

All things considered, it must be acknowledged 
that this particular type of revival exercises a 
limited influence at the present day. Even the 
Welsh revival which was the most significant of 
recent years produced very disappointing results. 
In proportion to the efforts expended, with the 
extensive preliminary advertising and prepara- 
tion, most of the modern evangelistic campaigns 
have produced very disappointing fruit. It is not 
that this method of conversion is discredited, so 
much as it is really ineffectual. Let us beware of 
the ^^ wretched apotheosis of custom which has 
throttled the growth of Christ's Kingdom on 
earth, more than all unbelief put together. ' ' 

" New times demand new measures and new men, 
The world advances, and in time outgrows 
The laws that in our father's days were best; 
And doubtless, after us, some purer scheme 
Will be shaped out by wiser men than we, 
Made wiser by the steady growth of truth." 

At the risk of being misunderstood, it must be 
said that one of the most serious perils of the 
modern church comes from the abnormal invasion 
by evangelists. It is an appeal to the spectacular 
and the sensational, with methods that are not 
only artificial, but which savour far too much of 
cant and claptrap. An evangelist had been se- 
cured for a town. The usual preliminaries being 
over, the people began to pray, and at their meet- 
ings decisions for Christ commenced. When the 



The Needed Revival 109 

evangelist heard of it, he promptly wired the com- 
mittee : ^^Hold the work in check till I come.^* If 
the efforts put forth by Christian people, prior to 
the coming of the evangelist, were given, under 
the leadership of their own pastors and infused 
by prayer, we believe that greater and more per- 
manent results would be secured. The fact is 
that a revival cannot be worked up; it must be 
prayed down. 

Let us however not conclude that the day of 
revivals is over. A different kind of spiritual 
awakening has also appeared at several periods 
in the church's history. It has not only been 
more comprehensive in its appeal but more con- 
structive in its effects. It has not been marked 
by spasmodic undertakings, at high pressure, but 
it has gone forward according to the law" of de- 
velopment by a series of consecutive and consis- 
tent efforts from day to day. Those who prefer 
the method of revolution with its violent dis- 
turbances may not be satisfied with the course 
of evolution. Both have nevertheless operated in 
the world, and the method of evolution has really 
achieved more than that of revolution. This is 
increasingly in evidence, even in these days of the 
War and of cataclysmic events. It moreover calls 
for definite conditions. We have seen in previous 
chapters that the church is at a low ebb spiritually. 
There is much movement without momentum. The 
practice of prayer is considered as of doubtful 



no Essentials of Evangelism 

value. The necessity for Christian nnity is con- 
ceded by all but when it comes to a practical ex- 
pression, so many difficulties raise their heads, 
inspired by bigotry, ecelesiasticism, social differ- 
ences and the like. The day of genuine fellow- 
ship, determined by spiritual affinity, is thus 
indefinitely postponed. We have only to think 
of industrial and civic conditions to see what a 
veritable jungle of undergrowth must be cleared 
away before we can think of Christian fraternity 
in the all-round terms of Jesus. The miseries of 
the poor are intolerable and an affront to Chris- 
tianity. The situation thus calls for radical 
changes and speedy redress in the matter of 
environment and other influences which tell on 
character and destiny. With the vision of a 
prophet. Bishop Franklin Spencer Spalding re- 
peatedly emphasised the imperative demand for 
the recognition of this truth. He once said: 
^^ Behind all the movement for social uplift outside 
the religious organisations to-day, is a philosophy 
which is as yet unappropriated by the church, and 
yet which is, I believe, true. It is based upon 
the fact that environment has most to do with 
the making of the product, and that therefore the 
chief work of any organisation desiring success 
must be to create right conditions." Other 
leaders of thought, with equal force have declared 
the same truth and the phrase, ^^ social evangel- 
ism,'' points to the direction in which the needed 



The Needed Revival III 

revival of religion will find one of its manifes- 
tations. 

Indeed, the very content of the Christian mes- 
sage must be reconsidered and restated, in view 
of the radical changes in the world of thought and 
life. ^^ Invective and condemnation,'' says Henry 
Churchill King, ^^do not answer questions, nor 
does mere dogmatic repetition of old forms of 
statement. To keep now the same great Chris- 
tian truths real to ourselves, and to be able to 
make them real to others, we must have some 
degree of restatement." We may protest as we 
please against the fantastic religious cults of our 
time, but we cannot deny that they came into 
existence and continue to flourish because the 
church had not kept pace with the changes created 
by science, psychology, philosophy and social 
ethics. The signal principle of development, 
known as the law of evolution, has revolutionised 
thought. Doctor Frank Ballard in ' ' The Eational 
Way to Spiritual Eevival," well says: ^^The plea 
for growth is the only true conservatism ; because 
there is no other possible way of preserving what 
of value has been handed down to us. ' ' The truth 
of the Fatherhood of God has received much light 
from the science of comparative religion, which 
makes all the more noteworthy the teaching of 
Jesus. If we accept it fully and apply it honestly, 
our understanding of mankind will be radically 
changed, our attitude to our fellows will become 



112 Essentials of Evangelism 

fraternal and the falsities and inconsistencies of 
many of our practices will be exposed. We will 
further see that sin is defiance of the law of love, 
under which all must live, who acknowledge the 
Fatherhood of God and the Brotherhood of man. 
Loyalty to the Master whom we serve will con- 
strain us to uphold his leadership and control in 
every sphere of life. The simplicity of the Chris- 
tianity of the New Testament is so refreshingly 
unlike the complications of theological and ecclesi- 
astical Christianity, that we must often strain 
more than a point to see wherein the two are 
related. The essence of the Christian message 
really consists of a spiritual disposition, whose 
ardent devotion to God is equalled by a zealous 
service of man, in the name of the one Mediator 
and only Saviour Jesus Christ. The Christian 
life is a growth in grace and knowledge. An in- 
crease of the knowledge of God and of life will 
then deepen the evangelical experience and pro- 
duce a character of developing Christlikeness, 
which will insistently and consistently make 
Christ the common centre of unity, the fruitful 
generator of vitality and the inspiring creator of 
personality. 

The variety of Christian types is due to the 
differences of temperament. Some are prevail- 
ingly emotional, others are of the intellectual cast, 
while not a few are volitional. It is a common- 
place of thought that no two people are alike, and 



The Needed Revival 113 

yet how often this elemental truth is overlooked 
when the appeal is made for Christian decision. 
^^By their fruits they shall be known/ ^ constitutes 
the final test of worth. As long as it can be satis- 
fied, it makes little difference whether the conver- 
sion was the result of emotionalism, rationalism 
or volitionalism. What matters it if one comes 
into the kingdom by a sudden conversion, or an- 
other enters by a gradual change ? They are both 
the works of divine grace. If two liners enter 
port and are securely anchored, the one that had 
a tempestuous voyage may receive more sym- 
pathy but not any more approval than the other 
one which had a relatively calm voyage. The 
attempt to standardise the Christian life, as to its 
emotional manifestations, is to turn away from 
the essential to the incidental. Such a tendency 
might well expose one to the censure of Jesus, 
who spoke of those shortsighted folk, ^^who strain 
out the gnat and swallow the camel.'' There can 
never be any uniform Christian experience, any 
more than there is any depressing uniformity in 
nature. ^^The communion of saints is not merely 
the reproduction but the verification of experi- 
ence." If we can be delivered ^^from the tyranny 
of the subjective and emotional,'' there will come 
to us a larger toleration of forms of religious life 
unlike ours. God who shows his versatility in the 
realm of nature is also gloriously versatile in the 
regions of grace. Let us then salute everyone 



114 Essentials of Evangelism 

who has the marks of Christ, regardless of the 
place and the manner in which they received them. 
Such is the opulence of divine grace. 

The results of the revival here considered are 
calculated to affect human life in its entirety. The 
Reformation protested, in the interest of individ- 
ualism, against ^^the excessive solidarity char- 
acteristic of the medieval mind. ^ ' The pendulum 
has since swung to the other extreme, and now we 
are called upon to accentuate the rights and duties 
of the individual in his social relations with other 
individuals. It is the summons to Christianise 
the social order, which means, in the words of 
Professor Rauschenbusch, ^^ bringing it into har- 
mony with the ethical convictions which we iden- 
tify with Christ.^' It must begin with making 
more of the corporate life of each local church as 
a Christian fraternity, and of co-operation with 
other churches in the community, to make vivid 
and real the message and mission of Jesus Christ 
through his followers, who have consecrated them- 
selves to the work of influencing and directing 
their several communities towards God and good- 
ness, with all that it implies of justice, purity, 
honour, for the sake of humanitarianism. The 
processes by which these desirable blessings are 
to be reached will not be cataclysmic but construc- 
tive. They will work from within and not be 
operations from without. Less will be made of 
emotionalism and more of education, in the nur- 



The Needed Revival 115 

ture and culture of the virtues and graces which 
adorn character and beautify conduct. Spasmodic 
efforts need not therefore be discounted. There 
will continue to be a place for such activities, at 
least until the leaven of Christian truth has 
moulded society. We shall however rely far 
more earnestly on the attempts to awaken people 
to a sense of the realities, the vitalities, the rich 
privileges and the large responsibilities of de- 
voted Christian living. 

The more popular revival practices may doubt- 
less stop the leakage in the church for a time; 
but they really evade the problem how to secure 
steady and continuous accessions of those who 
will not only enter the church but remain in it, to 
live '^soberly, righteously and godly,'' and walk 
worthy of their vocation as fully-fledged Chris- 
tians. But if we are to make headway in these 
healthy directions, there must be a quickening of 
faith in God the Holy Spirit, who speaks not with 
the accent of the first century or the eighteenth 
century, but of the twentieth century, urging us to 
face all the facts and make the conditions for the 
favourable coming of God to a world, distracted 
and desolated by war and by the godless passions 
of men. Let our preparation make us more sensi- 
tive to the leadings of the divine Spirit. We shall 
then be purged of prejudice, informed in mind as 
to our own times, enlightened in spirit as to the 
needs and strengthened to accept the challenge 



Ii6 Essentials of Evangelism 

and make it possible for Christ to have the pre- 
eminence. ^^ There are diversities of gifts, but the 
same Spirit. And there are diversities of min- 
istrations and the same Lord. And there are 
diversities of workings, but the same God, who 
worketh all things in all.'' 

" The old order changeth, yielding place to new, 
And God fulfils himself in many ways, 
Lest one good custom should corrupt the world." 



CHAPTER TEN 

THE INDISPENSABLE BOOK 

THE Bible appeals to so many sides of life 
that it can be studied in different ways. 
This library of sixty-six books is made up 
of every type of literature — history, biography, 
poetry, drama, letters, essays, proverbs, parables. 
It deals with as many subjects as are of interest 
to men — philosophy, psychology, sociology, proph- 
ecy, prayer, praise, as they touch on the su- 
preme question of religion. The Bible is pre- 
eminently the book of religion. It is the record 
of the self-disclosure of God to man, of the re- 
sponse of man to God and of the resulting respon- 
sibility between men in their individual, social, 
national and international relationships. Think 
of the Bible as biography, and it excels in the 
analysis of character, taking note not only of ^Hhe 
greater men and women,'' but also of the lesser 
known, who belong to the rank and file. Think of 
it as history, and you find in its pages the gradual 
unfolding of the life of nations, particularly of 
one nation, in everything that concerns their best 
welfare. Think of it as a volume of devotion, 
and nowhere can you find more rapturous utter- 
ances of the human spirit, in its ascent towards 

"7 



Ii8 Essentials of Evangelism 

the mount of vision and triumph. The Bible has 
only recently been recognised as a missionary 
book, proclaiming the consolation of humanity, in 
notes of conviction and assurance. It is also the 
book of revivals and reformations, and a most 
profitable study of it can be made on this subject. 
Those interested in literature can obtain from the 
Bible far greater benefits than from the ancient 
classics, as Moulton has so conclusively shown in 
his suggestive volume, ^^The Literary Study of 
the Bible. ' ' This aspect of it can be supplemented 
with great advantage by a study of the influence 
of the Bible on literature, which impressively 
demonstrates that these writings of power have 
moulded the world's civilisation. This fact is 
finely discussed, with special reference to English- 
speaking peoples, in '^The Bible in English Lit- 
erature,'' by Doctor E. W. Work. Our study of 
the Bible, from whatever point of view, will be 
limited, unless we learn to regard it as the revela- 
tion of the purpose of God for the redemption of 
humanity. It is '^the record of the pre-eminent 
meetings of God with men, and the direct reflec- 
tions of the supreme revelation in Christ. '^ 

It would save us considerable difficulty if we 
regard this select literature from its own stand- 
point. Many of our troubles with the Bible are 
due to inadequate theories, which have not reck- 
oned with all the facts. Thanks to the devoted 
labours of modern scholarship, we are learning 



The Indispensable Book 119 

that questions of date, authorship and literary 
composition are incidental, and do not affect the 
vital truths. The critical study of the Bible does 
not lessen our appreciation and reverence of it, 
any more than botanical study would give us less 
pleasure and profit from flowers and plants. In 
fact, as a result of constructive Biblical criticism, 
we have a bigger and better Bible, because we 
have a clearer conception of the development of 
spiritual truth, from its dim beginnings in pre- 
historic times up to the perfect revelation in Jesus 
Christ. President H. C. King reminds us that, 
^^ every life of Christ worth reading, outside the 
gospels, has been written since 1835, '' when the 
fruits of critical scholarship began to be reaped. 
Its significance is that, ^^this generation has given 
to the life of Christ such direct, painstaking, his- 
torical study as the world has never before seen ; 
and as a consequence we are able, to an extent 
not true of any preceding generation, to put the 
life of Christ into its real historical setting — 
political, intellectual, social, moral and religious 
— and so to understand more certainly the precise 
meaning of his acts and of his teaching." An- 
other significant benefit is that since the divine 
revelation came through the human experience of 
elect souls, who had high commerce with God, the 
Bible must be judged in terms of life and not of 
logic. This means a great deal because religion 
is a personal matter; and the experience which 



I20 Essentials of Evangelism 

grows out of it, is rich and vigorous, in the meas- 
ure of the direct fellowship with God. 

The Bible then is a criterion from experience, 
giving us a standard by which to regulate our 
own lives. On the other hand, it is tested by 
human experience. We acknowledge its author- 
ity where it finds and satisfies the needs and 
desires of our heart. But of course, we remember 
that our best experience, at any stage, is limited, 
with vast possessions of spiritual blessing yet to 
be appropriated. We shall however find that at 
every advance the Bible maintains its leadership. 
We have found some parts of this precious volume 
more attractive because more helpful than other 
parts. Without hardly being aware of it, we ac- 
cept one of the canons of criticism and treat the 
book with historical and spiritual perspective. 
For instance, literary experts first declare as to 
the distinction of Shakespeare, Milton, Goethe, 
Emerson, Browning and other leading lights of 
literature; but their word alone is not final. 
These writers have won their place by reason of 
intrinsic merit, which is recognised by the people 
at large. In the same way, the authority of the 
Bible is not finally determined by the findings of 
councils or the conclusions of scholars, but by the 
consensus of testimony of Christian men and 
women, who have used the book and find in their 
own experience that it has met their needs. In 
this sense, the Bible must be discovered by each 



The Indispensable Book I2i 

generation for itself. We must not depend on 
tradition although this voice of the past is not 
to be discarded. Just as second-hand religion is 
worthless, for purposes of testimony, so the ac- 
ceptance of the Bible as the Word of God, on 
the strength of ecclesiastical verdicts, carries no 
weight, unless we have found out for ourselves 
that it is ^*a lamp unto our feet and light unto 
our path. ' ' It is the personal note that gives such 
force to the meditations and prayers of the Golden 
Psalm which has reference to the law. But what 
is true of the one hundred and nineteenth psalm 
as a testimony from experience is equally true of 
the whole Bible, whose real worth is endorsed by 
living witnesses. Well might Sabatier say: ^^It 
is the book above all books, light of the conscience, 
bread of the soul, leaven of all reforms. It is the 
lamp that hangs from the arched roof of the sanc- 
tuary, to give light to those who are seeking God. 
The destiny of holiness on earth is irrevocably 
linked with the destiny of the Bible. ' ^ 

The chief use of the Bible is for the culture of 
the religious life and the growth of character. 
Protestantism does not make as much of books of 
devotion as does Roman Catholicism. The reason 
is that the Bible is its pre-eminent book of devo- 
tion. ^^ Every Scripture inspired of God is also 
profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, 
for instruction which is in righteousness : that the 
man of God may be complete, furnished completely 



122 Essentials of Evangelism 

unto every good work.'' Such a service has been 
rendered by the Bible wherever its voice has been 
heard; but we are compelled to confess that it has 
often been muffled. Phillips Brooks correctly ob- 
served that, ^^ religious people read thin, super- 
ficial books of religious sentiment, but do not meet 
face to face the strong, exacting, masculine pages 
of their Bibles." The most subtle dangers to 
which the church is exposed come from ignorance 
of the Bible. There is no other substitute as an 
aid to the best growth in character and influence. 
^^I have been seriously perplexed to know," said 
Professor Huxley, ^^how the religious feeling 
which is the essential basis of conduct can be kept 
up without the use of the Bible." Doctor R. F. 
Horton once remarked, ^^It is the unhappy de- 
lusion of the church that it knows the teaching 
of Jesus." How we can call ourselves the dis- 
ciples of the Master and yet have so confused an 
understanding of his truth, is not only marvellous 
but tragic. Herein is one reason why such a small 
percentage of Christians bear their testimony in 
personal work to lead others to Christ. If we are 
familiar with the redemptive purpose of God as 
interpreted by prophets and apostles, an increas- 
ing appreciation of its message will inevitably 
constrain us to share the blessings of salvation 
with others. 

Wherever the Bible is read with enlightenment 
and earnestness, there cannot be damage from 



The Indispensable Book 123 

sectarianisms and fanaticisms. All the fantastic 
and one-sided cults are based on erroneous con- 
ceptions of the method and character of revela- 
tion. History is treated as allegory, prophecy 
is confused with mantic prognostications, num- 
bers are made to unravel unfathomable mysteries, 
apocalypse is regarded with gross literalness. 
Alas, the Bible is still read by those who wrest it 
to their own confusion and undoing. The Holy 
Spirit was not promised to give us the truth but 
to lead us into the truth. Such illumination does 
not dispense with the exercise of our own facul- 
ties, but makes it all the more obligatory that we 
use reason, conscience, heart and will in becom- 
ing directly and practically acquainted with the 
oracles of God. We hold, at least in theory, that 
an intelligent and regular study of the Book is 
vital to Christian life, but the fact is that the 
personal use of the Bible is far from common 
among us. We treat it with respect, and praise 
it, and present it as gifts bound in morocco with 
gilt edges. We give it a central place on the 
parlour table and even have a vase of flowers upon 
it. All this is ornamental but not useful, and 
nothing really worth while comes out of it. For- 
tunately, this is not the only sort of treatment 
which is meted out to the Book of life. 

When the apostle Paul was driven out of Thes- 
salonica, he went to the neighbouring town of 
Berea. Here he was given a cordial welcome. 



124 Essentials of Evangelism 

The atmosphere was calm and judicious, free from 
ignorant antagonism. ^^ These were more noble 
than those in Thessalonica, in that they received 
the word with all readiness of mind, examining 
the Scriptures daily, whether these things were 
so. Many of them therefore believed." The 
reference is to the word of the gospel, telling of 
Jesus the Messiah and of his work of redemption 
from sin. The spirit and attitude of these people 
are worthy of our imitation in the use of the 
Bible, which in a large sense is the Word of God. 
The Bereans were noble in character; they were 
serious, open-minded, unprejudiced, seeking the 
truth and ready to welcome it from whichever 
source it came. The fact that Paul and Silas 
were not ecclesiastically authorised made no dif- 
ference to these enquirers. It was more impor- 
tant to give attention to what they said, especially 
as there was a note of conviction and confidence 
in their speech. ' ' I will hear what God the Lord 
will speak,'' is a good resolution with regard to 
the Bible, for it implies willingness to give time 
and thought to its study in all of its bearings. 
When Paul wrote to the Thessalonian Christians, 
he exhorted them to ^^ prove all things, hold fast 
that which is good." Just as the Bereans gave 
themselves to examination of the Scriptures of 
the Old Testament, so should we treat the whole 
Bible. ^' God's message to the human soul," to 
quote the apt title of a discerning volume by 



The Indispensable Book 125 

Doctor John Watson, challenges our most cordial 
consideration. Like the truth, it is not afraid of 
the light because it is not clad in the garments 
of darkness. 

There are some necessary qualifications which 
are demanded of every Bible student, (a) Intel- 
ligence must be shown by the exercise of thought 
and the cultivation of memory. Intellectual effort 
of the best is none too good, to understand the 
mind of God which is expounded in the Bible, and 
which has been made accessible to us by the 
great scholars of the church. (b) Confidence 
must be given to the testimony of the Scriptures. 
Think of the noble company of men and women 
who were directed, comforted and inspired to 
faithful living, as they accepted the promises, 
heeded the precepts and followed the program for 
world redemption, found in the Bible. This book 
has never failed anyone, the leading scholars and 
historians being witness thereto; and their ver- 
dicts have been confirmed by the saints, who in a 
question like this always have the last word, (c) 
Perseverance is another quality to be cultivated. 
The Bible must be read daily. It is like the 
manna which had to be gathered day by day. It 
is like the mercies of God which are new every 
morning. Those who know, declare that the regu- 
lar study of the Book brings spiritual replenish- 
ment and refreshment, unlike that obtained from 
any other book, (d) The whole Bible^ if read at 



126 Essentials of Evangelism 

the rate of a chapter a day, can be finished in two 
years and nine months. But we are not concerned 
in getting through the book so much as getting its 
ideas and ideals, in order that they might govern 
our lives. No haphazard reading will do this, but 
only a plan of study can secure the best results. 
There must be what Bishop Handley C. G. Moule 
called continuous ^^under-surface'' study of the 
Bible, or what an ancient writer described as 
^^ burrowing in'^ the Word of God. Eead it in 
sympathy with its high ideals and be inspired by 
them. Read it with reverence, intent on hearing 
the voice of God who speaks directly through its 
pages. Read it intensively. Take the gospel of 
Mark or the epistle of James and concentrate on 
it, till you understand its thought and are pos- 
sessed by its spirit. Read it historically. If you 
select the first part of Isaiah, find out the social, 
political and religious conditions, with the help of 
such a volume like that by George Adam Smith in 
the Expositor's Bible series. You will then not 
only understand the burning message of the 
prophet but also understand how to apply it to 
your own life and times. If you select the epistle 
to the Galatians, learn of the temperament and 
circumstances of that people and the temptations 
before which they fell, as discussed by Adeney in 
the New-Century Bible series or by Dods in his 
^^Introduction to the New Testament. '^ You 
will then appreciate the vigorous appeals of 



The Indispensable Book 127 

the apostle and know how to apply the teachings 
of this letter to the life of nominal, impulsive or 
steady Christians in the modern church. Of 
course, this method of study means work, but then 
no one has ever stumbled upon truth. The 
promise is **seek and ye shall find.^' This is 
true of discoverers like Columbus, Stanley and 
Nansen; of scientists like Faraday and Darwin; 
of naturalists like Audubon and Burroughs; of 
inventors like Edison and Marconi. It is also 
true of those who investigate in the spiritual 
realm, whether they are conspicuous Biblical 
scholars like A. B. Davidson, Frances Brown, S. 
R. Driver, J. H. Moulton or ordinary folk like the 
most of us. (e) To all these qualifications, we 
must add the practice of prayer. The Bible is a 
spiritual book and its teachings can be spiritually 
discerned only by those who have the devotional 
frame of mind to recognise the presence of God, 
not only in the pages of the Scriptures, but also 
in the life of every day. Such an approach to the 
Bible will lead to the discovery of untold riches, 
which are there to be mined by those who employ 
determination, diligence and devotion, (f ) Let it 
be further said that how much to study or how 
to study largely depends on individual circum- 
stances. You may observe the morning watch 
or the evening hour. It makes little difference 
whether you get your lunch at a buffet counter or 
seated at a table, so long as your hunger is satis- 



128 Essentials of Evangelism 

fied. The same is true as to feeding your soul 
from day to day^ which may be done on the train, 
in the boat or in the quiet of your home. Be sure, 
however, that you are really nourished. 

A knowledge of the Bible is a wonderful help 
in times of need. When you are dismayed, think 
of Elijah's experience; when perplexed, recall the 
guidance given to Abraham; when answers to 
prayer are delayed, remind yourself of Jesus in 
Gethsemane or Paul supplicating for the removal 
of the thorn in the flesh; when religiously indif- 
ferent or at a low state of spiritual temperature, 
turn to the Psalms, or the gospels, or the book of 
Acts which tell of the enthusiasm of the early 
Christians in the face of harsh handicaps. One 
argument for the excellence of the Bible is that 
sermons on Shakespeare, Browning, Tennyson 
and current topics quickly run their course. But 
preaching which is based on the Bible never palls, 
and we never fail to rejoice in the unadulterated 
riches of the wisdom and love of God. In review- 
ing his ministry of thirty years. Doctor John 
Watson said that he found that while people ap- 
preciate literature in the preachers, they do not 
desire literature for the subjects of the pulpits; 
and that, ^' while they do not undervalue infor- 
mation on the Bible, they are ten thousand times 
more grateful for the inspiration of the book." 
Yet another argument is that every great revival 
has been preceded by a rediscovery of the Bible 



The Indispensable Book 129 

and the placing of it in the hands of the laity. 
John Wycliffe with his popular translation of the 
Scriptures was a terror to corrupt ecclesiastics. 
John Huss made vigorous onslaughts on Eoman- 
ism with the aid of the Bible. The edition of the 
Greek New Testament by Erasmus was a mighty 
weapon in the hands of Luther. The German 
translation by the great reformer himself helped 
considerably in the spread of the principles of 
Protestantism. Tyndale 's version of the English 
Bible, followed by the King James version pre- 
pared the way for the evangelical revival. And 
last but not least, the work of our modern scholars 
has made it possible for us to see the manifold 
message of the Book, that it contains much more 
than a ^^few lines of evangelical doctrine and 
special providence'^; and to believe with Pastor 
Eobinson, when he declared to the Pilgrim 
Fathers, ^^I am convinced that the Lord hath yet 
more light and truth to break forth from his holy 
Word. ' ' The revivals of religion of a former day 
wrought graciously among the common people. 
This is another way of saying with Eousseau: 
^* 'Tis the people that compose the human race: 
what is not people is so small a concern that it 
is not worth the trouble of counting. '^ John 
Morley quotes this sentence in his *^ Recollec- 
tions,'' and adds, ^^ Bright put the same civilising 
truth in homelier words when he reminded us that 
great halls and baronial castles do not make a 



130 Essentials of Evangelism 

nation : the nation in every country dwells in the 
cottage. * ' This is the cardinal teaching of democ- 
racy, so decidedly set forth in the Book of the 
evangel. Well might it be said that, ^^the Bible 
is the true panacea for a corrupt Christianity and 
the best bulwark of a holy religion.'^ Become 
familiar with its message. Be faithful to its man- 
dates. Bear its truths to others. Give it a full 
chance, and it shall yet win trophies for the 
Saviour and Lord of us all. 



^ Welcome dear book, soul's Joy and Food ! The feast 

Of Spirits: Heav'n extracted lyes in thee. 
Thou art life's Charter, The Dove's spotless nest 
Where souls are hatch'd unto Eternitie. 

In thee the hidden stone, the Manna lies; 

Thou art the great Elixir rare and Choice; 
The Key that opens to all Mysteries, 

The Word in Characters, God in the Voice." 



CHAPTER ELEVEN 

THE EVANGELISTIC TEACHEB 

THE Sunday school is one of the greatest 
agencies of the church for the cultivation 
of the Christian life. Its work is done 
chiefly among those v^ho normally are most re- 
ceptive to the Christian appeal. About eighty 
per cent of those who make confession of Christ 
are under twenty-five years of age. Most of them 
are between the years of twelve and eighteen. 
Eighty per cent of those who have joined the 
church came from the Sunday school. But here 
is the arresting fact that it is only twenty per 
cent of the members of the school who have taken 
this stand. Many who drop out of the school 
belong to the critical period of life, between twelve 
and twenty-one, when life decisions made are most 
decisive, and when youth sorely needs counsel 
and guidance. Through failure of the Sunday 
school at this strategic place, many who reach the 
parting of the ways are lost to the church. If 
they are to be won back at all, it is through the 
intensive efforts of revival activity, with its good 
and evil associations. A business that regularly 
fails, where most profit is expected, is clearly con- 

I3X 



132 Essentials of Evangelism 

ducted on a wrong basis. This chronic leakage 
betrays lack of efficiency and economy. 

There are many reasons for this alarming sit- 
uation. The chief one is that the church has not 
yet grasped Christ 's conception of childhood. He 
held that all children belong to God. Brushing 
aside the officious interference of his disciples on 
one occasion, he said : ' ' Suffer the little children, 
and forbid them not to come unto me : for of such 
is the Kingdom of heaven. '' Bishop William 
Taylor was in accord with this sentiment of the 
Master, when he held up an African child before 
an American audience and said, ^^ There are no 
heathen children.'' He meant that by nature 
none of them are aliens from God, and that it 
is we who by our ignorance and neglect alienate 
them from the heavenly Father. ^'The child 
should grow up a Christian, and never know him- 
self as being otherwise." So wrote Horace Bush- 
nell in his thought-provoking book, ^'Christian 
Nurture.'' His idea was that our purpose must 
be not to save children for God, but to keep them 
for God all their days. To be sure, we accept this 
theory but our practice contradicts it and so we 
belittle the importance of conserving child life 
and we wait until adult age before putting forth 
earnest efforts to win them for Christ. Children 
recognise Jesus as their Friend and receive him 
as such. The aim of religious education must 
then be to reconstruct the purpose of each child, 



The Evangelistic Teacher 133 

in harmony with his^growing Christian intelli- 
gence and experience. This means that there will 
be a progressive renewing of the mind, a strength- 
ening of the will and the forming of good habits. 
All this will react on the character and conduct 
of the pupil. This method further implies the 
cultivation of life relationships in the name of our 
Father and Saviour, whose purpose of redemptive 
love to all mankind is thus shared by us. This 
quiet way is doubtless not spectacular, and the 
achievements may not be chronicled to the satis- 
faction of ardent statisticians. But it is the final 
result that counts, and those with the long vision 
are the ultimate winners. 

It is a commonplace that the leaders of to- 
morrow are in the schools to-day. If the better 
type of leadership is to be produced, it will depend 
on the instruction and influence there wielded. 
Who can say what far-reaching results will be 
produced by your scholars? When the Sunday 
school teacher led Robert Morrison to Christ, that 
obscure worker did not realise that the first step 
was taken to open China for the gospel. The 
teacher who led Moody to the Saviour had no 
idea of the vast harvest of souls which would be 
gathered by the evangelist. Well might we accept 
the statement in the book of Daniel, according to 
the marginal reading in the Revised Version: 
*^The teachers shall shine as the brightness of the 
firmament : and they that turn many to righteous- 



134 Essentials of Evangelism 

ness as the stars for ever and ever.^' The orig- 
inal reference is to the pious, the martyrs and the 
genuine leaders of religion : but we can apply the 
sentiment with equal force to teachers in the 
Sunday school. The solution of our problem then 
virtually lies with the teacher, who has a rare 
opportunity in the service of the kingdom of God. 
What the school is depends in large measure on 
the character and qualifications of the teacher. 
He who has the requisite ability, which is the 
result of training, inevitably raises the standards 
of the school. One with purpose and program 
naturally brings others to share the vision of 
possibility and achievement. One who is conse- 
crated to Christ and interested in the church will 
know both the subject of study and the object of 
instruction, which is the pupil. Such a person 
will follow the pedagogical method of precept 
upon precept, line upon line, here a little, there 
a little : and thereby find in the course of the years 
the structure of Christian character growing in 
balanced and beautiful proportions. Such a 
teacher is not an artisan or day labourer insist- 
ing on immediate pay and prompt returns ; he is 
an artist with an informed and inspired imagina- 
tion, who builds well to-day and can afford with 
patience to await the decision of the future. Good 
seed cannot fail of a harvest. 

It is certainly a severe indictment on the inade- 
quate religious education imparted by the church, 



The Evangelistic Teacher 135 

when a report like this can be made in a recent 
volume: ^* Religious Training in the School and 
Home/' by Sneath, Hodges and Tweedy. ^^Many 
of our boys and girls grow up believing that re- 
ligion has no intrinsic and necessary place in real 
life. Those who champion it are to their minds 
peculiar and erratic, not quite normal. The 
supernatural, to use that much abused word, be- 
comes to them almost synonymous with the super- 
stitious. Anything which is tinged with the mys- 
tical, which cannot be reasoned out logically and 
plotted geometrically and proved scientifically, is 
negligible if not queer. Religion may belong to 
sainthood, but they have no desire to be saints, at 
least the kind with which art and story have made 
them familiar. The life of Jesus is not synony- 
mous with their ideal. In fact, the real Christ is 
to them practically unknown. Their conception 
of him is as unlike the original as the paintings 
of the early Italian school or the drawings in the 
catacombs. The Master appears in their eyes as 
the wan ascetic, the sentimental dreamer, the 
heavenly herald of an impractical code of ethics, 
and a teacher of a theological system which the 
world has outgrown. Naturally the church for 
them ceases to function. It is a social club, a 
purveyor of pious platitudes, apparently a com- 
fort and a joy to the select few who are emotion- 
ally excitable and mentally incredulous. But for 
practical men of the world, for all thinkers fa- 



136 Essentials of Evangelism 

miliar with science and philosophy, it may safely 
be allowed to pass out of their lives'' (p. 30 f). 

A great deal has to be unlearned before the 
real truth is taught. Now, the great business of 
the teacher is ^^to open the gates of life for the 
pupils." Everything must subserve this aim. 
^^ Whether we scan the heavens, penetrate the 
depths of the sea, pore over the pages of books 
or look into the minds and hearts of men, we are 
striving after an interpretation of life." This 
sentence from Pearson in his suggestive volume, 
**The Vitalised School," has reference to the 
public school teacher, but it is equally applicable 
to the Sunday school teacher, who must interpret 
life according to the highest and noblest ideal of 
Jesus. The teacher who has a trained mind, 
which is a discerning mind, will understand and 
appreciate the interests of each scholar. Here 
after all is the crux of the whole matter. The 
preacher who is more interested in his subject 
than in his object is failing in his mission. So 
also, the teacher who knows the lesson but does 
not know the pupil is playing a hit or miss game. 
One child is plastic, sanguine and quickly respon- 
sive: another is impulsive, changeable, and at 
times unreliable: yet another is phlegmatic, dull 
and finds it difficult to grasp the truth, but he is 
possessed of heroic and enduring qualities. These 
differences are determined not only by tempera- 
ment but also by age, sex, education and up- 



The Evangelistic Teacher 137 

bringing. Each scholar must be treated separ- 
ately, and we must not attempt to standardize 
the experience but should encourage the pic- 
turesque diversity, each according to his own 
order. ^^The more one thinks of it,^^ said J. 
Brierley, *^the more plainly it appears that in all 
regions of thought — religious, scientific, artistic, 
literary — the question of questions, the pivot on 
which everything turns, is personality. The per- 
sonal life is the ultimate life, the personal interest 
the ultimate interest.'^ This is true of youth as 
well as of adult life, for ^^the child is father of 
the man.'' We shall fail unless we reckon with 
all the facts. To put old heads on young shoul- 
ders is unnatural because contrary to the laws 
of growth and development. Where this is at- 
tempted the result is only a make-believe with 
damaging reactions on character. The child or 
the youth should therefore be taught only what 
will most directly benefit him and what will in 
turn become seed for the harvest of the future 
years. 

The ultimate aim of religious teaching is to 
secure a favourable decision for Christ and the 
Christian life. The instruction is so framed and 
imparted that the scholar does not merely receive 
so much Bible information and become familiar 
with a set of doctrines about God. He has missed 
the mark if he does not come to know God the 
Father as revealed in Jesus Christ, whom he also 



138 Essentials of Evangelism 

accepts as personal Saviour. Such knowledge with 
surrender enlightens the understanding, quickens 
the conscience and moves the will. The German 
schools are acknowledged to have the most rigid 
system of religious education, but it is too wooden. 
A great deal is made of creed and catechism, with- 
out any vital relation to character. It reminds 
one of the high school boy who was expelled and 
with a sense of unconscious irony said, ^^I got 
fired, but I got ninety-eight in ethics.'^ There 
should be no gap between theory and practice in 
the matter of morals and religion.'^l.^e mustl? 
moreover distinguish between instruction, which 
draws out the best in a pupil, and exhortation, 
which expects the pupils to submit without any 
further discussion. The first is a form of ex- 
pression, the second is one of repression. The 
first makes for development and initiative, the 
second for a static and passive type of life, which 
is always uncertain of itself and weakly dependent 
on others. The first encourages the cultivation 
of the Christian consciousness as the privilege of 
Protestantism, the second makes much of author- 
ity of the dogmatic order, and compels one to be 
^ided by rules and not by principles. 

The teaching which is most effective is con- 
tinued after the class hour. What is done during 
the far too brief session of half an hour, more or 
less, oftener less, must be followed up with each 
individual. Such is the diffidence of the average 



The Evangelistic Teacher 139 

pupil that he will not make public confession in 
the presence of the class. One who has had con- 
siderable experience with young men says that 
nowadays they are *' strangely and obstinately 
reticent as to their inner life. ' ' Imagine how em- 
barrassing it would be to answer personal ques- 
tions when taken off-guard. Eespect for the per- 
sonality of each pupil should show that such a 
method is not only untimely but really evades the 
issues. Where you desire to attract you alienate. 
It is in the privacy of heart-to-heart dealing that 
difficulties can be met, objections answered, and 
suggestions offered, which shall pave the way for 
the definite surrender to Christ, and for the open 
declaration. Here is where the teacher does the 
best work. If tactful and patient, sympathetic 
and earnest, if a personal interest is shown in 
everything relating to the pupil, the teacher will 
have the joy of guiding the young life to Christ 
and of helping him or her, to give practical ex- 
pression to faith by joining the church. 

Personal contact will introduce the teacher into 
the pupiPs world. He will by all means become 
acquainted with the home life and secure the intel- 
ligent co-operation of the parents?*^ Some may be 
hostile, either through lack of Christian concern 
or through inability to understand the significance 
of the young taking a stand for Christ. Those 
children who have Christian parents and who 
therefore have the training of a Christian home 



140 Essentials of Evangelism 

would be more favourably disposed to make the 
open avowal of diseipleship, since they have al- 
ways been lovers of Jesus and never knew dif- 
ferent. Others without this privilege must be 
dealt with according to their respective condi- 
tions. In every case, we must be frank and fair, 
and submit all the facts without evasion. This 
will enable us to avoid what Professor Coe, in **A 
Social Theory of Religious Education,'' calls 
^*high pressure methods that ignore the laws of 
growth,'' which are '' not only unnecessary but 
also injurious. They are injurious because the 
impression that they make upon children as to 
the nature of the Christian life is untrue. It is 
as untrue as would be the presentation to healthy 
children of a bottle of medicine to make them 
grow. The Christian life cannot be truthfully 
separated, with either child or adult, from the 
social issues that constitute the difference between 
the mind of Christ and the love of the world. To 
draw the child's mind away from these issues as 
they appear before him in his own inch-by-inch 
experience, and as the faithful Sunday school 
teacher has to recognise them, into a relatively 
abstract or sentimental contemplation of himself 
or of Christ, is to counteract not to supplement 
the sound work of religious education. ' ' 

We should surely take advantage of the great 
days of the church year on account of their op- 
portune messages. Their appeal would be all 



The Evangelistic Teacher 141 

the more conclusive because of the ^* educative 
process, '^ which has prepared the scholar to enter 
upon his inheritance, with all the social respon- 
sibilities that accrue to it. Decision day need not 
be one special occasion in the year, when the regu- 
lar lesson study must be suspended. It will be 
one of the usual and normal features of school 
life. *^ Every day should be a day of decision 
for every pupil according to his capacity for de- 
cision." The evangelistic teacher knows the 
evangel, which is Jesus Christ in all the wealth 
of his redeeming grace. He has the evangelistic 
spirit, which is love shown in patience, kindness 
and eagerness without discouragement or dismay. 
He further has the evangelistic purpose to win 
every scholar for Christ and to bring every one of 
them into personal fellowship with the Saviour. 
He finally follows the best evangelistic method, 
which is a friendly approach to each one with the 
goal ever in sight. The co-operation of other 
teachers likeminded will then help to make the 
atmosphere for the growth of every member of 
the school, ^^unto the measure of the stature of 
the fulness of Christ." * 



* I venture to refer to my book, " Personal Appeals to Sunday 
School Workers," for a fuller discussion of every important phase 
of this subject. 



CHAPTER TWELVE 

THE PEKSUASIVE PBEACHER 

TEE triumph of democracy will make more of 
authority than could ever be possible under 
any theory of autocracy or oligarchy. But 
it is the authority of ability and merit and not 
the doubtful authority of privilege, influence and 
vested interests. This truth applies in a very 
marked way to the authority of the preacher. 
The credentials of apostolic succession, ecclesi- 
astical sanction and churchly decorum are at best 
but incidental issues. As Principal Forsyth 
strongly puts it in his volume, ' ' The Church and 
the Sacraments," ^^The church can appoint min- 
isters, but the ministry, as an institution, is God^s 
gift to his church, like the preacher's power. No 
power of men can make any man the oracle of 
God. ^ There is no shekinah but by divine as- 
signation.' " In the final analysis, therefore, the 
authority of the preacher is a question of person- 
ality. His vital and glowing experience of Christ 
the Redeemer and Lord enables him to exercise 
a creative ministry and he regards himself as a 
trustee of ^^the Word of New Creation." When 
he speaks from the inner sanctuary of experience, 
it is not only that of his own, but of the entire 

I4» 



The Persuasive Preacher 143 

company of Christian believers of all the cen- 
turies. Grace therefore adorns his message and 
it has irresistible sway. His speech is moreover 
marked by urgency, and he is keen on imparting 
what alone can bring spiritual relief, like ^'the 
shadow of a great rock in a weary land.^' His 
business is not to defend Christ but to proclaim 
him in all the wondrous sufficiency of his power 
to save unto the uttermost. *^As it now ap- 
pears,'^ wrote John Watson in reviewing his fruit- 
ful ministry at Sefton Park, Liverpool, *^the chief 
effort of every sermon should be to unveil Christ, 
and the chief art of the preacher to conceal him- 
self 

The great preachers of the church commanded 
a hearing because they dealt with the substantial 
facts of redemptive experience, and not with 
speculative inferences. Paul emphasized the per- 
sonal note, when he spoke of **my gospeP^ (Rom. 
2:16; 16:25; n Tim. 2:8). He did not imply 
that he had any exclusive monopoly, but that he 
had appropriated the gospel inheritance for him- 
self and its virtue was a reality in his own life. 
**But though his experience was individual, it was 
not eccentric. ' ' He was certain that what had so 
adequately helped him was equally able to help 
all sinning and struggling humanity. Every 
preacher must have this assurance, without which 
he cannot have enthusiasm, energy and endur- 
ance. The greatness of preaching is not deter- 



144 Essentials of Evangelism 

mined by the size of the field of labour but by the 
spirit of the labourer. The greatest preacher fre- 
quently had an audience of only one; but he 
stirred that single hearer with the joy of redemp- 
tion, that like the seed sown on good ground the 
one was indefinitely multiplied and yielded an ex- 
tensive harvest. Such a result was made possible 
because the preacher believed in his hearers. 
Oftentimes he quickened faith in those who did 
not believe in themselves, as in the case of the 
Samaritan woman, Zaccheus the publican and 
Mary Magdalene. John Morley confesses in his 
^^EecoUections," that a maxim which he repeated 
once a month or oftener was, ^*If you would love 
mankind, you must not expect too much from 
them.^' With all respect to this distinguished 
statesman, we must say that this is a form of 
cynicism, wholly different to the buoyant optim- 
ism of Jesus. He had full confidence in the 
generative and regenerative power of the gospel 
and was not disappointed. 

" Speak but the word ! the Evangel shaU awaken 
Life in the lost, the hero in the slave." 

Like Jesus, every preacher must have a sane 
and balanced view of life. He should speak to 
life imperfect, of the life perfect; to life dis- 
tracted and disconnected, of the life united and 
poised; to life self-centred, of the life God-pos- 
sessed. The Master had an all-round program. 



The Persuasive Preacher 145 

Over against social abuses, he placed social duties ; 
and he balanced social privileges with social re- 
sponsibilities. The ideal of the prophet concern- 
ing the Servant of Jehovah was heartily endorsed 
by Jesus, w^ho completely realised it in his own 
ministry (Luke 4:16-30). The Sermon on the 
Mount is a summary of manifold obligation, which 
can be discharged only by those who have the 
experience of the beatitudes. The purpose of 
preaching is to persuade people to accept this 
noble ideal for their own practical guidance. Men 
were induced to take notice of what Jesus said 
because he gave them the impression that he knew 
with certainty what he was talking about. His 
whole soul went out to his hearers. They were 
swayed by his compassion which had pity and 
patience, by his courage with its vehemence of 
unction, by his gladness which had not even the 
tinge of melancholy. Those who heard him could 
not fail to learn that religion is both real and 
reasonable, and that its purpose is the redemp- 
tion of all life and all of life, even of the ^^ peoples 
and multitudes and nations and tongues.'' 

Since all knowledge is the province of the Chris- 
tian preacher, he must never allow himself to be 
^^ smothered by parochialism.'' He is a mes- 
senger of Christ, whose dominion has no frontier, 
and whose empire must extend its sway over all 
the vocations and avocations of life. As one has 
said, ' ' Christian progress, progress with Christ at 



146 Essentials of Evangelism 

the head of it, has the promise of to-morrow and 
of the imaginable future. '^ One who has such a 
conviction will give himself to the task of per- 
suading men and women to decide promptly for 
Christ. He realises that many are not alive to 
their actual conditions and he therefore en- 
deavours to awaken them out of sleep. The 
mother awakens her child in the morning in one 
way ; the man is roused from sleep to go to work 
in a different way ; those who are asleep in a house 
which is on fire are awakened in yet another 
way. So the preacher plays on every chord of 
the human heart, and as the necessities of each 
case may demand, he appeals to fear or ambition 
or self-respect or distress. This is not an easy 
business. It requires a full mind and a full heart. 
A knowledge of human nature which is replen- 
ished by the study of psychology will enable him 
to reckon with the varying moods, divers tempera- 
ments, changing emotions and complex experi- 
ences of human life. Such diversity is due to the 
endless flow of influences from friendship, preju- 
dice, sentiment, tradition, custom, nationality and 
other circumstances of social and communal 
experience. Referring to Doctor Jowett of 
Balliol, Doctor Stopford Brooke wrote in his 
diary, ^^The blamelessness of his personal life 
kept him wholly ignorant of the desperateness of 
the temptations and trials of men, and he floun- 
dered when he got among them.'' This criticism 



The Persuasive Preacher 147 

is a strong argument why the preacher must also 
be a pastor, keeping close to the people, if he 
would speak pointedly and persuasively to them. 
Indeed, preaching is a species of wrestling and he 
who would succeed must know the strength and 
weakness of his contestant. The man in the 
pulpit offers a proposition to the men in the pew. 
His concern is to secure their favourable accept- 
ance of it, to the extent that they will change their 
method of living. What is said must therefore 
have compelling force, to constrain them to recon- 
sider their ineffectual lives and submit decisively 
and uncompromisingly to Jesus Christ. As the 
preacher thus deals with the startling facts of sin, 
penitence and redemption, his hearers should be 
staggered rather than pleased, aroused rather 
than gratified, and then be induced in penitence 
to accept the sole solution for the removal of the 
discord and defeat within. 

Evangelistic preaching of the ^^Come to Jesus'' 
type is not enough. We must not only win men 
to Christ but show them how to be anchored in 
the faith. They must not only get right with God 
but keep right with him. We must not only have 
people but hold them. We should not only be 
solicitous of their salvation but persuade them to 
go on, unto perfection. ^^It is easier to convert 
men than it is to educate them. The converts are 
many but the developed workers are few." One 
reason why so many lapse is ^Vdue to the fact that 



148 Essentials of Evangelism 

their mental being has not been fully unified in the 
change.'^ This omission can be rectified as the 
preacher discharges the function of a teacher and 
demonstrates how the right adjustments should 
be made. It was said of Jesus that he went about 
the synagogues of Galilee, ^^ teaching and preach- 
ing'^ the gospel of the kingdom. His last com- 
mission was to make disciples of all the nations, 
^^ teaching them to observe all things whatsoever 
I commanded you.'' The whole counsel of God 
must then be announced and enunciated, so that 
the entire circle of truth shall captivate every 
Christian, with the imperative of divine grace, 
instructing him, '^to renounce irreligion and 
worldly passions and to live a life of self-mastery, 
of integrity and of piety in this present world." 
Our temptation has been to rely on a partial mes- 
sage, and consequently the citadel of truth has 
been endangered by the invasion of the votaries 
of fantastic and fatalistic cults. The great 
preachers of the church were generous in their 
proclamations, and, in the words of Doctor R. 
W. Dale, avoided ^^the danger of failing to give 
to any of the great doctrines of the Christian 
Faith an adequate place." The secret was that 
they breathed the spacious atmosphere of the 
Bible and expounded it with a wealth of learning 
and of spiritual insight, to gladden and strengthen 
their hearers with tidings of the unsearchable 
riches of Christ. *^The best of books was in his 



The Persuasive Preacher 149 

hand/' wrote Bunyan of his ideal preacher, and 
those who have come nearest to this ideal have 
always been enlightened and fortified by the Book 
of God. So was it with Paul in the first century, 
with Maclaren in the last century and with every 
preacher of note and weight in all the centuries. 
In these days when we think of the Scriptures 
not as a quarry of texts but as a literature of 
life, our use of the Bible should be more thorough 
than that of any previous generation. Where 
this is the case, an evangelistic-teaching ministry 
is exercised, and there is witnessed a steady 
stream of conversions with their marvel and joy, 
and a continuous flow of consistent confessions of 
Christ made by speech and in service. The testi- 
mony of Doctor R. F. Horton in his ^^Autobiog- 
raphy" is worth quoting on this point. He is 
referring to the thirtieth anniversary of the open- 
ing of the Lyndhurst Road Church, of which he 
is pastor. ^^ There was one curious coincidence 
which came out in this review of the membership 
of the church ; it made a deep impression on me. 
I had often bemoaned the fact that my work did 
not result in large harvests and impressive in- 
gatherings. But, strange to say, we found that 
the number of members who had joined the church 
from the beginning represented exactly one for 
every Sunday service that had been held. The 
slow and steady work of my long years was per- 
mitted to produce just what was effected at Pente- 



150 Essentials of Evangelism 

cost in one day. Laus Deo! Thirty years now 
to do what then required a few hours'^ (p. 335). 
It is largely due to our nervous desire for short 
cuts and quick results, that there is a growing 
tendency to hire some outsider to do the work 
of evangelism. The professional evangelist no 
doubt has his place, but it is a very limited and 
subordinate place. Those who look to him so 
eagerly, tacitly acknowledge their own incapacity 
or rather their negligence. The Protestant 
Church has surely fallen on evil times, when it 
thinks more of the spectacular appeals of the 
itinerant gospeler than of the all-round work of 
the settled ministry. It is really a reflection on 
the failure of the preacher and the people. This 
stigma cannot be removed by resorting to clap- 
trap, with the inevitable displays of vulgar ri- 
baldry and the obnoxious heckling over financial 
profits. The whole business is unethical, not to 
speak of it being tragically unspiritual. The 
popular evangelist invariably represents the re- 
actionary and obscurantist forces in the church. 
He is out of sympathy with Christian scholarship, 
holding as he does to a theology which crudely 
misrepresents the true essence of Christianity, 
and its spiritual and social passion. He is more 
like the seller of patent medicines than like the 
duly qualified practitioner. At the close of his 
so-called revivalistic campaign, which has been 
characterised by pulpit rant and the unwarranted 



The Persuasive Preacher 151 

vituperation of the church and the ministry, he 
leaves the community in a state of ecclesiastical 
and moral disruption, with problems made all the 
more complicated because of misplaced emphases 
and distorted views of duty and obligation. The 
scene is more like the wreckage from an explosion, 
which calls for the tedious removal of debris and 
years of reconstructive work, from the very foun- 
dations. How long are we going to permit such 
shameful displays? 

It is unfortunate that the modern preacher is 
compelled to do so many things which really lie 
outside his particular sphere. How easy it is for 
the laity to shove things aside, on the assumption 
that these miscellaneous duties will be shouldered 
by the pastor! He thus becomes an advertising 
agent, concerned with bills and badges; a can- 
vasser, taken up with surveys and census returns ; 
and a financial manipulator, busied and wearied 
to make ends meet. In short, he is a ^'jack of all 
trades and master of none," a sort of an indi- 
vidual aptly described as a ^^pack horse," when 
he really should be a prophet of God, an evan- 
gelist of good tidings, a teacher of truth and a 
pastor of his people and of the community. No 
doubt this is partly due to the social conditions 
of our day. But it is nevertheless true, that so 
long as the minister is taken up with the oppor- 
tunities of action, he will find it impossible, by 
the sheer weakness of the flesh, to face the diffi- 



152 Essentials of Evangelism 

culties of thought, to solve the problems of life 
and to give himself to the supremely vital work 
of persuasive preaching, with independence of in- 
sight, vigour of vision and authority of conviction. 
The darkness of temporising and compromising 
is however passing away, and the true light of the 
new day of the evangel's glory is already shining. 
There is coming a renaissance of the Christian 
pulpit, due in no small measure to the disillusions 
of the War. The outlook is therefore marked by 
the triumph of apostolic optimism. We shall 
again hear the gospel of redemption proclaimed 
with the fervour of Paul, the conviction of Athana- 
sius, the eloquence of Chrysostum, the volcanic 
energy of Savonarola, the fearlessness of Knox, 
the courage of Luther, the independence of Calvin, 
the passion of Wesley, the scorching keenness of 
Edwards, the daring of Eobertson, the charm 
of Punshon, the glow of Spurgeon, the rapture of 
Newman, the insight of Matheson, the splendour 
of Phillips Brooks, the joy of Moody, the tender- 
ness of Beecher, the majesty of Dale, the grace 
of Maclaren. No negation of historian nor pessi- 
mism of philosopher nor materialism of scientist 
can ever withstand the joyful optimism of the 
evangelism of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the 
Saviour of the world, the Lord of life. Let the 
preacher devote himself to earnest prayer, ar- 
duous study, intense meditation and continuous 
shepherding, under the spell of the vision splen- 



The Persuasive Preacher 153 

did, and his ministry shall make glad the City 
of our God. Great is thy office and opportunity, 
preacher! Make full use of it as a worthy 
steward of the Gospel of grace and truth. 

"'Twas August, and the fierce sun overhead 
Smote on the squalid streets of Bethnal Green, 
And the pale weaver, through his windows seen 
In Spitalfields, look'd thrice dispirited. 

I met a preacher there I knew, and said: 

' 111 and o'erwork'd, how fare you in this scene ? ' — 

'Bravely! ' said he; 'for I of late have been 

Much cheer'd with thoughts of Christ, the living hread.^ 

O human soul! as long as thou canst so 
Set up a mark of everlasting light, 
Above the howling senses' ebb and flow, 

To cheer thee, and to right thee if thou roam — 

Not with lost toil thou labourest through the night! * 

Thou mak'st the heaven thou hop'st indeed thy home." 

* " East London," by Matthew Arnold in Poetical Works. 
The Macmillan Company, New York. 



CHAPTER THIRTEEN * 

THINKING THEOUGH 

EVERY movement passes through three 
stages. It is first met with opposition, 
then with ridicule, and if it survives these 
two fires, it becomes established. So was it with 
Christianity in its early career. It was opposed 
in Jerusalem, it was ridiculed in Antioch, it was 
established in Rome. The successful issue de- 
pended on the ability of the leaders, who not only 
had vital convictions, but who proclaimed them, 
in spite of the forces which threatened to under- 
mine and destroy them. If their convictions had 
been superficial, these men would not have been 
gripped by them nor would they have been able 
to grip the people. But they knew him whom 
they believed and they were persuaded, beyond 
cavil, rebuke or disparagement, that absolutely 
nothing could separate them from the love of God 
which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. They had 
thought through to their conclusions and were 
established on a firm foundation. No power 
could, therefore, move them. They had strong 

* This chapter originally appeared in the Methodist Review, 
November, 1917. It is here introduced, with the kind permission 
of the editor, Dr. William V. Kelley, because it deals with some 
questions touching the larger mission of evangelism. 

154 



Thinking Through 155 

encouragement which was as an anchor of the 
soul both sure and steadfast. This was particu- 
larly true of the leaders of the Apostolic Church. 
In spite of imperfections, due to traditional in- 
fluences, they had the progressive manner and the 
forward look. What saved them from wreckage 
on the rocks of traditionalism was the illumination 
of the Holy Spirit, whom they accepted as their 
constant and consistent guide into the larger 
areas of thought and life. Recall how Paul won 
the triumph for the cosmopolitan and democratic 
view of Christianity. The voice of opposition was 
stilled when the conservative leaders recognised 
that the apostle to the Gentiles had the guidance 
of the divine Spirit. They did not hesitate to 
accept conclusions which went counter to their 
accepted beliefs, because they were convinced that 
the new conclusions were nearer the whole truth 
than the old. 

The leaders of the Protestant Reformation did 
not have the same consistent attitude to truth. 
Conservatism and radicalism struggled for the 
mastery, but so great was the influence of me- 
diaBvalism that the reformers were prevented 
from thinking through. In this case conservatism 
meant reaction. For instance, the principle of 
individual liberty in Christ, with its complemen- 
tary principle of social obligation, was imperfectly 
expounded. The freedom of the Christian was 
modified by the dogma of sacerdotalism. The 



156 Essentials of Evangelism 

priesthood of all believers was qualified by the 
separation into clergy and laity, with the impli- 
cation of superior and inferior. The spirit of 
free enquiry and the rights of private judgment 
were limited by the distrust of reason. The lib- 
eration by the indwelling Holy Spirit was re- 
stricted by ecclesiastical pronouncements. The 
message of the open Book of God was kept within 
bounds by dogmatic interpretations. The author- 
ity of the Christian consciousness and the witness 
of the Spirit had the elements of spiritual vitality 
sapped out. The fact is that the Eef ormers were 
very much the children of their time. It was, 
therefore, inevitable that they were unable to 
pursue their conclusions to a consistent climax. 
They were held back by prepossessions and 
presuppositions, imposed upon them by Catholic 
scholasticism. This in turn was succeeded by 
Protestant scholasticism, which was no less dog- 
matic than its paralysing predecessor. 

Much has happened since the date when Luther 
nailed his defiant theses. It ill becomes us at the 
present time to point out the manifest weaknesses 
of the greatest revival movement in the history 
of the church. It is not by criticising its defects 
that we can worthily commemorate this heroic 
protest on behalf of spiritual liberty in Christ and 
the nobler progress of humanity. It is rather by 
completing the program of Protestantism in the 
light of modern needs, that we shall prove our- 



Thinking Through 157 

selves to be the devoted descendants of those 
brave souls, who, in the teeth of bitter opposition 
and unscrupulous persecution, remained loyal to 
the light as they saw it, and were faithful to the 
truth as they understood it. Our task is all the 
greater because of the innumerable changes 
wrought by science, travel, invention and the 
two ways of evolution and revolution in the social, 
economic, political and religious life of all peoples. 
The more pressing then is the call for a leadership 
to be characterised by ^^ wisdom without egotism 
and truthfulness without cynicism.'^ Just at this 
point we are confronted by one of the serious 
perils of our American life, due to slack disci- 
pline. It is well described by Professor Peabody, 
a true modern prophet, in ^^The Religious Educa- 
tion of an American Citizen": ^^A distinguished 
American has said that his country is alone in 
the world in its distrust of experts. One man's 
opinion is commonly thought to be as good as 
another's, if not better. A citizen may train him- 
self laboriously for some form of public service, 
for diplomacy or legislation or the teaching of 
some branch of learning, and may find himself 
some day displaced by a wholly untrained com- 
petitor. When a candidate is proposed for office 
the first question asked concerning him is likely 
to be, not ^How adequately prepared is he for his 
task?' but ^Is he of our party; can he get the 
votes?' Inexperience may be a passport to pre- 



1^8 Essentials of Evangelism 

ferment, and ignorance a title to self-respect. '' 
This means that leaders are not held in deserved 
honour. People insist on doing their own think- 
ing. This is as it should be, provided they have 
the adequate data. But this, unfortunately, is 
not always the case, and we frequently find our- 
selves in the comic or rather tragic situation of 
the beggar on horseback and the prince walking. 
Another peril comes from the tendency to look for 
the safe man. This generally gives us the medi- 
ocre man who hesitates to say that his soul is his 
own, lest he offend vested interests and startle 
the prejudices of the ^^ self -preoccupied business 
man." In these rushful times we have made the 
man of action our guide, while the man of thought 
is consigned to a place of secondary importance. 
This is akin to the inane talk about the ^^ scholar 
in politics,'^ as though our supremest need were 
the man of affairs with his nose to the grindstone, 
and not the man of vision with deep historic 
knowledge and world outlook. In urging the 
imperious necessity for the preparedness of the 
American mind, conscience and will. Doctor James 
A. Macdonald has pointed out that, ^^In the world 
conflict of ideas the college classrooms are our 
strategic heights. Hold them to-day, and the 
hinterland of the Vimy Ridge of Truth will be 
yours to-morrow." The New York Tribune, in 
an editorial on ^^The Mental Habits of Democ- 
racy," called attention to some of our conspicuous 



Thinking Through 159 

failings: ^^Our national maxim has been, ^Get 
busy/ 'The hustler' has become our hero, with 
the result that few people, even leaders and 
moulders of public opinion, have had time for 
thinking. Scarcely anywhere in our blind milling 
around has there been an opportunity for the 
modern equivalent of that calm meditation which 
characterised the great minds of ancient and 
mediaeval times." In such a '^psychological cli- 
mate" it is impossible to engage in work that is 
definitely constructive and which can bear fruit 
in all-round character and deeply moving conduct. 
The effect of all this is seen in the life and in- 
fluence of the church. 

One of the first questions which demands thor- 
ough thinking bears on church unity. The church 
is called upon to give an account of itself, not to 
enemies, but to friends. Those who are persuaded 
that the church offers the unique means of bring- 
ing blessing to mankind feel that its power is 
weakened by the blight of sectarianism. The out- 
standing principle of Protestantism is the free- 
dom of the individual. The attempt to consecrate 
the intrinsic worth of personality has, however, 
resulted in an excessive individualistic emphasis, 
w^hich has become an obsession in many deplorable 
instances. Eoom has assuredly been made for 
individual initiative, but the social boundaries 
within which this independence should be prac- 
tised has often been overlooked. Consequently, 



i6o Essentials of Evangelism 

irresponsible persons have done violence to the 
social nexus which binds all believers together, 
and have neutralised the testimony of the church 
by the misery of divisions, which are as petty 
and provincial as they are selfish and self-willed. 
One of the inevitable but disastrous results has 
been the one-sided presentation of the whole coun- 
sel of God. ^^It is more or less of a scandal, '' 
says Bishop McDowell, ^^that we have preached 
the partial truth. And we are paying the penalty 
for it. If we do not do better, we must face the 
permanent alienation and loss of countless men 
from Christ's ranks. We cannot touch all life 
unless we use all of Christ's truth.'' People will 
give their adherence and confidence only to ^Hhat 
church, free or bond, which has most of the power, 
the future, the authority and the liberty which are 
in the Christ of the apostles and of the church." 
It can come about only by a union of forces, made 
possible by whole-souled sacrifice. As I have 
stated in ^^The Faith and the Fellowship" : ^^This 
implies a spirit of enthusiasm which must be 
kindled at Calvary, if it is to be profitably effec- 
tual. With it must also go the conviction of the 
urgent need of the world for Christ, and of the 
spiritual waste of duplicating effort for the sake 
of maintaining an institution and not of redeem- 
ing society." 

The purpose of the Protestant reformers was 
to supplant ecclesiastical authority by that of the 



Thinking Through i6i 

educated and enlightened Christian consciousness, 
which is a living thing, flexible and progressive, 
and marked by candour and integrity. But they 
became lost in a sea of fog and did not think out 
the implications of this freedom of the Spirit. So 
they compromised by placing reliance on the 
authority of the Bible. A book thus took the 
place of an organisation. The damage wrought 
was not due to the fact that the Book of God was 
made the court of appeal, but that its living mes- 
sage was qualified, modified and limited by a cast- 
iron theory of inspiration and revelation. These 
leaders failed to recognise that the Bible came out 
of experience and is the chronicle of the dealings 
of the living God with living men, concerned in 
concrete matters. It must not be regarded as a 
set of dogmatic propositions with a theological 
bias, but a recital of happenings with a religious 
interest. The researches of Biblical scholars have 
further been discredited because their work has 
tended to discount the traditional method of 
appeal to proof -texts, in favour of the rational 
appeal to the historical perspective, in the pro- 
gressive unfolding of the will of God, ^^by divers 
portions and in divers manners.'' The final word 
is not to be had from quotations, but from the 
facts of life. A lamentable illustration of the 
confused thinking on this subject is given in ^^A 
Student in Arms," by Donald Hankey. He pays 
a high tribute to the unselfishness and charity of 



1 62 Essentials of Evangelism 

the men in the trenches, but goes on to point out 
that the average Tommy, who before the war was 
a workingman, does not associate such virtues 
with Christianity. ^^He thinks that Christianity 
consists in believing the Bible and setting up to 
be better than your neighbours. By believing the 
Bible he means believing that Jonah was swal- 
lowed by the whale. By setting up to be better 
than your neighbours, he means not drinking, not 
swearing and preferably not smoking, being close- 
fisted with your money, avoiding the companion- 
ship of doubtful characters and refusing to ac- 
knowledge that such have any claim upon you" 
(page 109). What a parody on the Christianity 
of the New Testament ! What a reflection on the 
religious education of the Sunday school and the 
pulpit ! With such a premium on ignorance, we 
must not be surprised that church people have 
become so easy a prey to every fantastic cult, 
ingenious enough to wrest the Scriptures to its 
own advantage and to the religious undoing of 
its unwitting perverts. We must have conse- 
crated courage to resist the temptation, common 
to both clergy and laity, ' ' to substitute the cheap 
guess for the costly certainty, the easy evasion 
for the expensive solution of a hard problem." 
We must discountenance the holding of second- 
hand opinions which are surely not convictions. 
Such a practice, moreover, is not only a form of 
mental indolence ; it is also an ethical lapse which 



Thinking Through 163 

cannot fail to dull the conscience, to cloud the 
vision, to enervate the will and to spoil the 
character. 

When the reformers abolished the confessional 
with its attendant evils, no provision was made 
for personal guidance in the religious life. To 
be sure, the pastoral office has always been sup- 
posed to discharge this function and there are 
pastors whose ministry in this direction has been 
beneficial. But as a matter of fact, this import- 
ant phase of pastoral service is inadequately 
performed. It is arduous and exacting; it 
requires a familiarity with the best Christian 
thought and a sympathetic knowledge of human 
life in its multitudinous phases of need. One of 
the best parts of ^'A Spiritual Pilgrimage,'' by 
R. J. Campbell, is where he recounts his experi- 
ence in dealing with enquirers at the City Temple, 
London. ^^It is wonderful,'' he writes, '^how few 
people there are in the world to whom we can open 
our hearts freely, how few to whom we would dare 
to humiliate ourselves by admission of weakness 
and failure, how few to listen and understand" 
(page 159). Souls "in wandering mazes lost" 
querulously look around for help and not finding 
it go astray and make spiritual wreckage of their 
lives. Of course, some of the enquiries tend to 
casuistry and purposeless quibbling; but there are 
more cases than otherwise of *^ personal distress 
and melancholy despair," which must be given 



164 Essentials of Evangelism 

direction. Some religious journals conduct a 
correspondence column, which is in the nature of 
a Protestant confessional. Its character can be 
judged from ^^ Christian Counsel/' by David 
Smith, and ^^ Problems and Perplexities," by W. 
E. Orchard. These two volumes contain material 
that originally appeared in The British WeeMy 
and The Christian Commonwealth. They are 
very suggestive to those who would fulfil their 
pastoral stewardship. 

When we talk of relationships we are at once 
confronted by the modern problem of democracy. 
This ideal recognises the rights of the individual 
without overlooking his personal responsibilities. 
Faith in man is of the essence of a true democracy. 
It implies courage to accept the truth that every 
man is entitled to the right of life, liberty and the 
pursuit of happiness; and, moreover, that it is 
incumbent on each one to help every other in a 
spirit of consideration and co-operation. It is not 
the policy of live-and-let-live, but the Christian 
policy of ^4ive-and-help-live" that must govern 
all who espouse this ideal. ^^A democracy must 
be tempered," writes Croly, ^^ first of all by and 
for action. Yet if it cannot combine thought with 
action, discussion with decision, criticism with 
resolution, a searching inquisitiveness with a 
tenacious faith, it cannot avoid going seriously 
astray. Democracy must risk its success on the 
integrity of human nature." Here is the crux of 



Thinking Through 165 

the modern social question. It has to do not 
only with economic and social readjustments, but 
chiefly with a spiritual attitude of life. We must 
acknowledge that we are our brother's keeper, 
whatever his racial or religious traditions may be. 
In a discerning discussion of ^^The Principle of 
Nationalities," Israel Zangwill states that, ^^The 
brotherhood, of the peoples is not barred by the 
plurality of patriotisms. It takes two men to 
make one brother. Internationalism, so far then 
from being the antithesis of Nationalism, actually 
requires nations to interrelate" (page 98). Those 
who desire to look further into this question will 
find food for thought in two volumes by Doctor 
James A. Macdonald. One is ^^ Democracy and 
the Nations," the other consists of the Cole lec- 
tures on ^^The North American Idea." In the 
latter he declares : ^^ Where slavery, serfdom, caste 
prevail, the foundation of democracy, the sense of 
personal right and obligation, the sense of the citi- 
zenship of all men, which allows to others the 
liberty we claim for ourselves, is never secured. 
Democracy is a process, not even to-day an accom- 
plished fact, an evolution, not a fulfilment attained 
in any past stage of the world's history" (page 
214). Some of the results achieved by the prac- 
tice of the spirit of socialised democracy are given 
in a recent volume, entitled, ^^Sons of Italy," by 
Antonio Mangano, published by the Missionary 
Education Movement. Here then is the real basis 



1 66 Essentials of Evangelism 

of the missionary enterprise. The purpose of 
Christian missions is to transform the individual 
as well as his surroundings. The spirit that 
impels us to undertake and support it is the love 
of man as man, in order that every man, woman 
and child might enjoy the higher benefits through 
Jesus Christ. ^^For our gospel is not the survival 
of the fit, but the revival of the unfit." So said 
C. Silvester Home in his glowing book, ^^The 
Eomance of Preaching.'^ But if the converts are 
penned in by themselves and not permitted the 
freedom of fellowship, because forsooth they be- 
long to a different nationality, then we practically 
reopen the controversy which was decidedly 
settled by the Apostolic Church, when Jew and 
Gentile were received on terms of absolute equal- 
ity, and when the racial and social discriminations 
of an unregenerate world were wholly set aside. 
Any disparity that we accept is a virtual dispar- 
agement of the New Testament ideal and experi- 
ence. By what right do we discriminate against 
those who enjoy the benefits of the life that is 
hid with Christ in God? Can it be that they are 
acceptable to the Lord Christ, but not to us ? On 
whose authority do we establish a double standard 
which contradicts the very genius of Christianity? 
The melting pot has reached the boiling point. If 
the lid is not speedily removed, it will boil over 
and do damage. To use another figure suggested 
bv Bishop Williams in his outspoken volume, 



Thinking Through 167 

^^The Christian Ministry and Social Problems," 
instead of perpetually mopping up the floor, let 
us turn off the spigot (page 66). 

Is it not because we have turned away from 
the central issues of the Christian life that we 
feel ourselves spiritually powerless as churches? 
Principal Forsyth once put the case in his char- 
acteristic way when he said that the ancient 
prophet answered the summons with, ^^Here am 
I?" while his modern successor looks up with con- 
fusion and dismay, and asks, ^^ Where am IT' 
The title of one of President H. C. King^s most 
helpful books is ^^The Seeming Unreality of the 
Spiritual Life.'' The phrase is significant. It is 
largely because we have faced our problems in a 
purely academic fashion and apart from life, 
theoretically and not with the scientific test of 
experiment and experience, that we find ourselves 
in so much of a dilemma. But the perplexity is 
itself a challenge to us to bend under the yoke in 
a spirit of heroic consecration. What Professor 
Peabody said of the social question applies to 
every question: ^^It cannot be fought through, or 
crowded through, or blundered through; it must 
be thought through. ' ' Thus only shall we be pre- 
pared for the demands which press upon us for 
attention and which summon us to action in the 
name of Christ, that in all things he might have 
the pre-eminence. 



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